INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Parenting Education Programmes

Graham Allen: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what steps she is taking to support parenting education programmes in less developed countries.

Lynne Featherstone: Increasing evidence shows early childhood development, to which parenting education can contribute, yields lifelong benefits. We support parents and children through our health, nutrition and education development assistance and are considering, specifically, how we might further help parents give children the best start in life.

Rakhine State: Burma

Jonathan Ashworth: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what recent assessment she has made of the humanitarian situation in Rakhine state, Burma.

Alan Duncan: Around 115,000 people remain in camps following violence between the de facto stateless Muslim Rohingya and the Buddhist Rakhine communities. Many lack food, safe drinking water or adequate sanitation.
	The UK has allocated bilateral funds to provide water, sanitation and nutrition to more than 58,000 people.

The Sahel

Kelvin Hopkins: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what recent assessment she has made of the humanitarian situation in the Sahel region of West Africa.

Lynne Featherstone: Early harvest estimates across the Sahel are positive for 2013. However many people remain locked in a chronic state of food insecurity, exacerbated by conflict in Mali. The UK Government are committed to helping communities to become more resilient to this cycle of crises.

International Labour Organisation

Alison McGovern: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development when she last met the Director General of the International Labour Organisation.

Alan Duncan: I held a meeting with Guy Ryder, Director General of the International Labour Organisation, on 12 September this year. We discussed how ILO and DFID can continue to work together at country level to deliver results on shared priorities such as decent work for all and social protection.

Causes of Poverty

Alec Shelbrooke: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development if she will make it her policy to tackle the causes as well as the symptoms of poverty in developing countries.

Justine Greening: My Department’s policy is to tackle both the causes and symptoms of poverty. This includes putting in place building blocks of prosperity through promoting open societies and open economies—what the Prime Minister has referred to as the ‘Golden Thread’ of development.

European Development Fund

Ivan Lewis: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development for what reasons the Government is opposed to increasing expenditure by the European Development Fund.

Justine Greening: I refer the hon. member for Bury South to the answer given to him on 19 November 2012, Official Report, column 410W. The Government believes that we should have a negotiated outcome on all aspects of EU expenditure that is affordable to the UK taxpayer.

International Assistance

Tony Baldry: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how much her Department has spent in support of each of the Millennium Development Goals since 2000.

Justine Greening: The Department for International Development reports its spend to the Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development—Development Assistance Committee. The UN aggregate this information with spend from other donors to track global progress toward the millennium development goals. Its latest report can be found here:
	http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/
	The Department's own publication on UK aid spending, Statistics on International Development, can be found here. This includes spend by sector:
	http://www.dfid.gov.uk/About-us/

Libya

Brian Binley: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what analysis her Department has undertaken of illegal migration flows through Libya; what support it provides to assist Libya manage and halt illegal migration flows; and if she will make a statement.

Alan Duncan: The UK has recently been approached by the Libyan authorities to provide a border security expert to assist them in strengthening strategy and management. Last month, with the support of the Home Office, we facilitated a visit by a number of Libyans to the UK to discuss border management.

Pay

Andrew Gwynne: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how much was paid in (a) year end and (b) in-year bonuses to officials in her Department in each of the last two years.

Alan Duncan: DFID pays performance-related awards to staff at the end of the performance year. DFID does not operate an in-year bonus scheme. The total performance-related payments made to DFID staff in each of the last three years is shown in the following table.
	
		
			 Performance year Total amount paid (£) 
			 2009-10 1,426,279 
			 2010-11 1,258,519 
			 2011-12 1,120,560

Public Appointments

Michael Weir: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development which recruitment consultants her Department used to select candidates for public appointments within her departmental remit in each year for which figures are available since 2007; and how much was paid in fees to each such company in each year since 2007.

Alan Duncan: No recruitment consultants have been used to support the recruitment of public appointments since 2007 in two of the non-departmental bodies within the remit of the Department for International Development. The recruitment consultants Egon Zehnder International were used to support public appointments to CDC on three occasions since 2007 (2008: £40,000, 2009 and 2010: not available). There have been no instances of using recruitment consultants since then.

Sickness Absence

David Ruffley: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what the average number of working days lost was per person in (a) her Department and (b) each of its agencies in each of the last five years.

Alan Duncan: The average number of working days lost to sickness absence by Home Civil Servant (HCS) staff within the Department for International Development (DFID), during each of the last five years, is shown in the following table:
	
		
			  Average working days lost to sickness absence per HCS employee 
			 2008 6.0 
			 2009 4.9 
			 2010 5.2 
			 2011 4.7 
			 2012 4.2 
		
	
	The figures for 2012 are based on our latest sickness absence return to Cabinet Office which covers the 12 month period 1 July 2011 to 30 June 2012.
	DFID has no agencies.

EDUCATION

Consultants

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many full-time equivalent staff were employed on consultancy contracts in his Department on the latest date for which figures are available; how many such staff were employed on the same date 12 months ago; and if he will make a statement.

Elizabeth Truss: This table shows the number of full-time equivalent consultants employed by the Department for Education and Executive Agencies for the dates requested.
	
		
			 Department for Education and Executive Agencies 
			  Number of consultant full-time equivalent staff 
			 October 2011 Nil 
			 October 2012 0.9

Education: Assessments

Graham Stuart: To ask the Secretary of State for Education if he will place in the library copies of all documents and guidance sent to schools taking the Programme for International Student Assessment test in 2009 and in 2012.

Elizabeth Truss: The OECD produces a “School Co-ordinator's Manual” which describes PISA and sets out the role of the school co-ordinator, such as nominating a suitable date for the school to undertake the assessment. The manual for PISA 2009 is publicly available on the OECD website:
	http://www.oecd.org/pisa/pisaproducts/pisa2009/49024507.pdf
	The manual for PISA 2012 is not yet available.

Education: Assessments

Graham Stuart: To ask the Secretary of State for Education when schools sat the Programme for International Student Assessment test in England in 2009 and in 2012.

Elizabeth Truss: The testing period for PISA 2012 is from 5 November 2012 to 14 December 2012. PISA 2009 testing was carried out between 2 November 2009 and 11 December 2009.

Education: Assessments

Graham Stuart: To ask the Secretary of State for Education on what basis schools were selected for the Programme for International Student Assessment test in 2012.

Elizabeth Truss: The school sample for PISA was selected by the PISA Consortium which is under contract to OECD. The Department for Education had no role in the process.
	A list of all eligible schools and their pupil populations was sent to the PISA Consortium by the Department's contractor, the National Foundation for Educational Research. The Consortium carried out the school sampling then sent the list of selected schools back to NFER.

Education: Assessments

Graham Stuart: To ask the Secretary of State for Education if he will place in the Library a copy of the list of schools in England which sat the Programme for International Student Assessment test during the 2009 and 2012 cycle.

Elizabeth Truss: Schools participate in PISA on the basis that neither the Department for Education nor the Department's contractor for PISA, the National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER), will disclose the names of individuals or schools involved in the survey either in any reports arising from the use of this data or in any other way. All data processing is in line with the Data Protection Act.

Education: Assessments

Graham Brady: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what the ranked performance of pupils at maintained schools and sixth form colleges was at (a) GCSE and (b) A level in each local education authority in the most recent period for which figures are available.

Elizabeth Truss: holding answer 10 December 2012
	The 2011 School Performance Tables include a wide range of indicators for each maintained school and sixth form college and can be ranked by these indicators on the website:
	http://www.education.gov.uk/schools/performance/
	The links on the right allow for schools to be selected, and the ‘filters' option means that sixth form colleges only can be chosen. To rank by an indicator, click on the indicator heading.
	The indicators can also be downloaded from the departmental website, in a format that allows easy ranking, here:
	http://www.education.gov.uk/schools/performance/download_data.html
	Definitions for each indicator are available from the following link:
	http://www.education.gov.uk/schools/performance/metadata.html
	Further information can be accessed by clicking the ‘plus' next to the appropriate heading.
	The 2012 School Performance Tables at GCSE and A level will be published in late January 2013.

Foster Care: Rotherham

Frank Dobson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education on what date he was informed that the children involved in the UKIP-related fostering case in Rotherham had been the subject of an earlier court decision.

Edward Timpson: holding answer 6 December 2012
	Ministers became aware on 30 November that there had been previous care proceedings in connection with the children concerned.

Further Education

Gordon Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many successful bids for (a) university technical colleges and (b) studio schools were sponsored by further education colleges.

Matthew Hancock: holding answer 10 December 2012
	22 University Technical Colleges are open or in the pre-opening stage with a Further Education College as part of the sponsor group, alongside universities and employers. 18 Studio Schools are open or in pre-opening stage with a Further Education College as part of the sponsor group.

Head Lice

Graham Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Education 
	(1)  how many outbreaks of head lice there have been in schools in (a) England and (b) Lancashire in each of the last five years;
	(2)  how many times nurses have been called into schools in (a) England and (b) Lancashire to deal with outbreaks of head lice in each of the last five years.

Elizabeth Truss: The Department of Education does not gather the information requested. It is a matter for individual school determination as to how they manage any incidents of head lice and the appropriateness of when to call in a school nurse.

Languages: Primary Education

Nicholas Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what his policy is on language teaching in primary schools; and if he will make a statement.

Elizabeth Truss: holding answer 10 December 2012
	We believe that an early start to language teaching will inspire pupils with a love of languages, improve their literacy and cognitive skills and benefit their education in secondary school. We have therefore confirmed, subject to parliamentary approval, our decision that teaching a foreign language at key stage 2 will be a statutory requirement in all maintained schools from September 2014.

Official Hospitality

Andrew Gwynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how much his Department has spent for hospitality purposes on (a) Champagne, (b) wines, (c) spirits, (d) soft drinks, (e) flowers, (f) laundry, (g) porterage, (h) china, (i) cutlery and (j) venue hire since May 2010.

Elizabeth Truss: The Department's finance system does not hold information at the level of detail requested. To obtain the information would be at a disproportionate cost.

Pay

Andrew Gwynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how much was paid in (a) year end and (b) in-year bonuses to officials in his Department in each of the last two years.

Elizabeth Truss: The Department paid £1,250,000 for exceptional performance in 2010-11 and £1,500,000 for exceptional performance in 2011-12 (the higher amount is due to an increase in headcount from the opening of four new Agencies). The 2012-13 performance year concludes on 31 March 2013.
	The Department does not pay in-year bonuses for performance.

Pre-school Education

Jack Lopresti: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what steps his Department is taking to help providers set-up new pre-schools.

Elizabeth Truss: The Government provide substantial funding to local authorities to enable them to meet their statutory duty to secure early education places for all three and four-year-olds. From September 2013 this programme will be extended to around 130,000 two-year-olds from lower income families. We have provided greater transparency and clarity on the funding available to secure early years provision to give providers the confidence to invest and build sustainable new provision.
	The Minister for Women and Equalities, my right hon. Friend the Member for Basingstoke (Maria Miller), also recently announced a £2 million grant fund to help new child care businesses to get off the ground. The Prime Minister launched a child care commission in June this year to look at how we can improve the availability and affordability of child care and reduce burdens on child care providers. We have been listening very closely to the views of front-line professionals, parents and others on these issues. We will be setting out next steps shortly.

Private Education: Special Educational Needs

Andrew Griffiths: To ask the Secretary of State for Education if he will increase support for independent specialist providers of special educational needs services for people over 16 years old; and if he will make a statement.

Edward Timpson: holding answer 6 December 2012
	From 2013/14 new funding arrangements are being implemented for independent specialist providers and similar specialist institutions. These arrangements will support the Government's plans to introduce a more integrated approach to assessment and planning for young people with special educational needs from birth to age 25. Although local authority statutory duties towards young people with special educational needs remain unchanged, the Department is attaching two important conditions to these arrangements which will support independent specialist providers. The first is that local authorities are required to continue with existing placements when the new arrangements come into effect, and the second is that local authorities will be required to look at placements in all institutions including independent specialist providers on a fair and equivalent basis.
	The changes mean that most of the funding for such placements will be routed to institutions through local authorities who will join up education, health and social care funding into a coherent package. This will also enable individual budgets for young people and their families who want them, across the full range of their needs. I can confirm that the overall high needs student budget is £620 million for each full academic year. These changes will help to improve transparency, quality and choice for young people who may wish to attend an independent specialist provider. They will also help to secure greater equity in funding for different types of institutions, including independent specialist providers, and will move us towards a student-driven funding system that promotes choice and raises quality.

Private Education: Special Educational Needs

Andrew Griffiths: To ask the Secretary of State for Education 
	(1)  pursuant to the written evidence provided by his Department to the Education Committee in its inquiry into Special Educational Needs, SEN 153, HC 631, what steps his Department plans to take to ensure that local authorities provide a full list of places available at independent post-16 specialist colleges; and if he will make a statement;
	(2)  what level of information he plans to require local authorities to provide to young people and their families on the services of post-16 independent specialist providers (a) within and (b) outside the local authority area under his proposals for a local offer of special educational need options in the draft Children and Families Bill; and what right such children will have to choose to attend such institutions.

Edward Timpson: holding answer 6 December 2012
	Independent specialist colleges make a valuable contribution to the education for young people with special educational needs. In September this year, the Government published draft legislation that would reform provision for children and young people with special educational needs. This draft legislation would place local authorities under a duty to consult independent specialist colleges when keeping their education and care provision under review (clause 7), both within their immediate area and beyond for young people for whom they are responsible and who have special educational needs. It would also require local authorities to publish a local offer setting out the provision they expect to be available both within and outside their area for children and young people for whom they are responsible (clause 11). We would expect this offer to include details of relevant independent specialist colleges and local authorities would continue to be able to commission places from them, where it is in a young person's best interests to do so.
	The draft provisions are currently undergoing pre-legislative scrutiny. During this time, we have been exploring with the independent specialist college sector whether the provisions should give young people an explicit right to request a place at an independent specialist college with a corresponding duty on that institution to admit the young person.

School Meals

Roberta Blackman-Woods: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what resources his Department has provided for implementation of the School Food Plan; over what time period those resources will be spent; and from which departmental budgets they will be distributed.

Elizabeth Truss: The independent reviewers are due to conclude their work on the School Food Plan in 2013. It is for the reviewers to decide what recommendations they wish to make to improve school food. Until they report and we respond to their recommendations, we are unable to estimate what resources will be required and over what time period.

School Milk

Sharon Hodgson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how much funding his Department allocated for the promotion of (a) school milk and (b) nursery milk in each of the last 10 years.

Elizabeth Truss: The Department for Education has not allocated funding for the promotion of either school milk or nursery milk in the last 10 years.
	Schools are not obliged to provide milk but if they do they can choose to take part in the EU school milk subsidy scheme, which reduces the cost of milk to parents for primary and secondary pupils. For nursery pupils, schools can choose to participate in the nursery milk scheme, which provides free milk to pupils under the age of five.
	The EU school milk subsidy scheme is operated by the Rural Payments Agency on behalf of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA). DEFRA does not provide any funds for the promotion of school milk. The dairy industry is responsible for the promotion of the consumption of milk and has in the past been successful in obtaining EU funding to promote milk, such as Dairy UK's ‘Make Mine Milk’ campaign.
	The Department of Health (DH) is responsible for the funding of the nursery milk scheme. The scheme reimburses child care providers for the cost of a third of a pint of milk provided to eligible children under five years old who attend the setting for two or more hours a day. DH does not actively promote the nursery milk scheme, but awareness of the scheme is high. Over 50,000 child care providers are currently registered with the Nursery Milk Reimbursement Unit, and the scheme is valued by parents and pre-school staff.
	Information about the scheme is available on the Nursery Milk Reimbursement Unit and Department of Health's websites.

Senior Civil Servants

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many and what proportion of senior civil servants have left (a) his Department and (b) each of the public bodies for which he is responsible since May 2010; what the rate of turnover of senior civil servants has been in (i) his Department and (ii) each such body since May 2010; and if he will make a statement.

Elizabeth Truss: From May 2010 the average annual turnover rate of senior civil servants for the Department and its Agencies was 11.1%.

Special Educational Needs

David Ward: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what estimate he has made of the number of children on (a) School Action and (b) School Action Plus programmes who will not be eligible for the new single school level support.

Edward Timpson: holding answer 6 December 2012
	The School Action and School Action Plus categories are not centrally stipulated programmes. As such there is no formal link with eligibility for support. In practice the classifications are used by different schools and local authorities in different ways.
	Our proposal, set out in the Green Paper ‘Support and Aspiration—A new approach to special educational needs and disability’, is to make changes that bring together the School Action and School Action Plus (SA/SA+) categories to help improve teaching and support for pupils with special educational needs.
	The change will not affect the overall availability of support for children with SEN; the aim is to promote better identification of need and associated provision. Ofsted's 2010 report—‘a statement is not enough’—showed that schools identify as having SEN many children whose needs could be met by improving teaching and learning for all, with individual goals for improvement. All children need to have provision that is suitable to them. More accurate identification has the potential to improve both the identification of specific needs and the effectiveness of specific SEN provision.

Staff Surveys

Andrew Gwynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Education if he will place in the Library a copy of the results of his Department's most recent staff survey; which organisation carried out the survey; and what the cost of the survey was.

Elizabeth Truss: The results of the October 2012 Department for Education staff survey will be placed in the Library on the same day as the results are published on our website:
	www.education.gov.uk
	which will be by 31 January 2013.
	The survey was carried out by ORC International Ltd.
	The cost of the survey will be approximately £19,877. The exact cost will be known in the spring. The Department participates in the Civil Service People Survey carried out across the entire civil service since 2009. This approach, which is managed by the Cabinet Office, delivers strong efficiencies by eliminating previously duplicated effort and project management and realises strong value for money; the cost of the 2012 survey across the civil service will be approximately 60% lower than what was spent separately by Departments and Agencies in 2008/09 on their own staff surveys.

Teachers: Qualifications

Andrew Griffiths: To ask the Secretary of State for Education which (a) primary and (b) secondary schools had more than (i) 30 per cent, (ii) 40 per cent and (iii) 50 per cent unqualified teachers in each local authority area, in each year for which data is available.

Elizabeth Truss: Figures for all years for which there are data available could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
	The information requested for January 1996, the earliest available, 2001, 2006 and November 2011 has been placed in the House Libraries.

COMMUNITIES AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT

Catering

Diane Abbott: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how much his Department has spent on refreshments since May 2010.

Brandon Lewis: We have interpreted refreshments to mean food and drink for meetings. My Department has taken a series of steps to reduce spending in this area, as illustrated by the following table:
	
		
			 Spending £ 
			 April 2008 to March 2009 553,230 
			 April 2009 to March 2010 456,142 
			 April 2010 52,864 
			 May 2010 to March 2011 141,939 
			 April 2011 to March 2012 32,054 
			 April 2012 to October 2012 42,225 
		
	
	My Department daily holds conferences, seminars and meetings with representatives from across the local government, communities, housing and planning sectors, at which light refreshments may be served.
	However, guidance to staff now states that refreshments may only be ordered for meetings with external attendees of longer than four hours. Staff should avoid arranging meetings over lunchtime where possible and attendees should normally be asked to bring their own refreshments where practical.
	This administration has also clamped down on ministerial and officials’ expenditure on dining through the Government Procurement Card, assisted by online transparency. Ministerial group spending of taxpayers’ money on Government Procurement Cards under the last Administration included the likes of ‘refreshments’ at the Cinnamon Club, the Wolseley, Brasserie 44, Boisdales, Sky City Casino, Inn the Park, Mango Tree, Shepherds, Incognico, Buffalo Bar, Tantric Jazz, Mr Chu's China Palace and Fat Tuesdays.
	My Department under this Administration has stopped such spendthrift practices.

Employment Agencies

Catherine McKinnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what his policy is on the use of offshore employment companies in the supply of public sector workers in his Department and its associated public bodies.

Brandon Lewis: All recruitment and appointment to public sector roles in DCLG are subject to the normal civil service rules governing fair and open competition. All permanent appointments are made in compliance with the Civil Service Commissioners rules and are subject to regular audit by them. The procurement of other staff, such as consultants and interims, are subject to internal processes that require formal business case approval to ensure transparency, compliance and efficient use of public money.
	In addition, my Department is implementing the recommendations of the Government's review into the tax arrangements of senior public sector appointees.

Flood Control: Finance

Dominic Raab: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what sums local authorities in England are projected to spend on flood and coastal erosion risk management support by formula grant from his Department in (a) 2012-13, (b) 2013-14 and (c) 2014-15.

Brandon Lewis: Formula grant is an unhypothecated block grant so authorities are free to spend it on any service. For this reason, and due to the method of calculating formula grant, particularly floor damping, it is not possible to say how much grant has been provided for any particular service, including flood and coastal erosion risk management.
	Proposals for 2013-14 funding for local authorities will be set out in the provisional Local Government Finance settlement expected in late December.

Non-domestic Rates: Appeals

Kate Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government when he will publish the statistical data on the number of non-domestic rates appeals made with and settled by the Valuation Office Agency in the last quarter to (a) June and (b) September 2012.

David Gauke: I have been asked to reply 
	on behalf of the Treasury.
	The Valuation Office Agency (VOA) is currently developing a new official statistics release on business rates that will cover all changes to the rating lists including the number of challenges to the list and the consequent change in rateable value. The release will provide statistics over the lifetime of both 2005 and 2010 lists with a breakdown at local authority level. The VOA will announce the date of publication and contents of this release as soon as possible.

Sickness Absence

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government pursuant to the answer of 8 November 2012, Official Report, column 733-4W, on sick leave, what assessment he has made of the difference in the proportion of working days lost due to ill health between officers at administrative grades and at senior civil service grade; and what assessment he has made of the use of mindfulness-based therapies in reducing the proportion of working days lost in his Department.

Brandon Lewis: Absence levels in my Department are below the average for the civil service.
	The Department monitors absence levels and causes on a monthly basis. This includes the number of days lost to psychological disorders. In view of the small numbers of staff in a number of grades, our analysis of sickness absence is undertaken at departmental level rather than looking in detail at the breakdown of data by grade.
	The Department is committed to the wellbeing of its staff and offers a number of services to help minimise absence. These include a self-test stress indicator tool for line managers, Intranet information pages to help staff maximise their physical and mental health and access to a 24 hour Employee Assistance helpline which offers advice and support to all staff. The Department has a dedicated occupational health service and should this advise that an individual would benefit from a mindfulness-based therapy it would support that treatment.

Written Questions

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many written parliamentary questions to his Department received a substantive answer (a) within five working days, (b) between six and 10 working days and (c) after more than 10 working days in the last 12 months for which figures are available.

Brandon Lewis: 1,422 ordinary written questions were tabled for answer by the Department between 1 October 2011 and 30 September 2012. 937 were answered within one to five sitting days, 361 within six to 10 sitting days and 124 after more than 10 sitting days.
	Over the same period, 680 named day questions were tabled; 433 of these were answered on the due date. Of the questions answered after the due date, 192 were answered within five sitting days of the due date, 26 within six to 10 sitting days and 29 after more than 10 sitting days,
	The Government have committed to providing the Procedure Committee with information relating to written parliamentary question performance on a sessional basis and will provide full information to the Committee at the end of the current session. Statistics relating to Government Department's performance for the 2010-12 Parliamentary Session are available on the Parliament website at:
	http://www.parliament.uk/documents/commons-committees/procedure/P35_Memorandum_Leader_of_the_House_Monitoring_PQs.pdf

ENERGY AND CLIMATE CHANGE

Aviation: Exhaust Emissions

Charlotte Leslie: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what assessment he has made of representations to his Department on the effects on the atmosphere of aeroplane contrails.

Gregory Barker: Condensation trails, more commonly known as contrails, are formed when hot, moist aircraft exhaust is expelled into cold, dry air, most frequently at high altitude. They may persist in the atmosphere for a period of a few seconds to several hours depending on atmospheric conditions, and the physics behind their formation has been understood since world war two. The Committee on Climate Change and the Inter- governmental Panel on Climate Change's Fourth Assessment Report have both examined the effects of contrails on the atmosphere, drawing on the large body of peer-reviewed scientific literature available. Those assessments found that the impact on the atmosphere is uncertain but likely to be a small warming effect.
	The Department has had no representations on contrails as commonly defined above. It has, however, had representations on speculations that contrails are caused by deliberate chemical spraying by aircraft. We know of no credible evidence that supports this suggestion.

Environment Protection

Caroline Flint: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change pursuant to the oral statement of 29 November 2012, Official Report, column 378, on energy policy, what the evidential basis is for the statement that the UK's low-carbon sector takes a £122 billion share of the global market.

Gregory Barker: The source for this data is the 2010-11 report on ‘Low Carbon Environmental Goods and Services (LCEGS)' published in May 2012 by the Department for Business Innovation and Skills. It is stated in section 4.2 that
	‘UK LCEGS Sales in 2010/11 is £122.2bn'
	and Table 4 provides a breakdown of sales by sub-sector over the last three years.
	For further information see:
	http://www.bis.gov.uk/assets/BISCore/business-sectors/docs/l/12-p143-low-carbon-environmental-goods-and-services-2010-11.pdf

Green Deal Scheme: Armed Forces

Zac Goldsmith: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change whether households in service family accommodation properties are eligible to take up the Green Deal Launch cash-back scheme.

Gregory Barker: Households in service family accommodation properties are eligible to take up the Green Deal Cashback Scheme.

Green Deal Scheme: Computer Software

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change which company developed the assessment software for the Green Deal; by what date his Department asked that company to deliver that software; and on what date the software was delivered.

Gregory Barker: Green Deal assessment software is being developed by a number of commercial software vendors. Once the market is fully developed, we expect there to be a choice of different software tools available for assessors, just as is the case now with EPCs. These tools are not commissioned by Government, but to ensure accuracy and consumer protection they must be approved as adhering to the standard calculation methodology developed by the Government's contractors, BRE, who are responsible for the technical standards which underpin building assessment processes of this sort.
	Government commissioned BRE to produce a limited, training version of a software tool, to ensure that the training of Green Deal advisers could begin in good time. This has been available free since May this year. In the summer, in discussion with the sector, we became aware that third-party software was still some way off full development and validation, so we asked BRE to upgrade the software they had developed for assessor training so that it could be used for real assessments to avoid any gap developing in the market.
	I am pleased to say that the first commercial assessment software was launched, following its approval against the BRE standard. Further commercial software tools are being tested and are expected to be approved shortly. We expect to be in a position in the spring to withdraw the BRE occupancy assessment software from the market, making it available for training purposes only.

Green Deal Scheme: Computer Software

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what testing was done of the Green Deal assessment software before it went live; and if he will place in the Library the results of any such testing.

Gregory Barker: All Green Deal assessment software is tested by our technical contractors against the standard calculation methodology before being approved for live use. Two software tools have been approved to date and others are still undergoing testing. The raw outputs of the testing process are not available in a format suitable for easy publication. However, I can confirm that one of the above tools achieved entirely accurate results for all test cases, and the other achieved results with an average deviation of less than 1%.
	DECC officials continue to work closely with software developers and our contractors following the release of software to ensure the early identification of any enhancements required and their swift implementation.

Insulation: Housing

Caroline Flint: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change pursuant to the oral statement of 29 November 2012, Official Report, column 388, on energy policy, how many insulation measures were installed in each of the last 15 years for which data is available.

Gregory Barker: The following table shows the number of retro-fit installations of cavity wall, loft and solid wall insulation through Government schemes each year between April 2008 and April 2012. Historic figures for the number of properties with insulation measures installed dating back to 1976 are available in ‘Energy Consumption in the United Kingdom' in tables 3.15a and 3.15b(1). The historic figures are not comparable with those below due to a different methodology employed for the new series which enables estimates on a quarterly basis.
	(1) This publication can be accessed from the following link:
	http://www.decc.gov.uk/media/viewfile.ashx?filetype=4&filepath=Statistics/publications/ecuk/4186-ecuk-domestic-2010.xls&minwidth=true
	
		
			 Thousand 
			 Measure installed between: Cavity wall insulation Loft insulation Solid wall insulation 
			 April 2008 and April 2009 560 660 10 
			 April 2009 and April 2010 590 1,420 20 
			 April 2010 and April 2011 470 980 10 
			 April 2011 and April 2012 520 1,130 30 
			 Source: Estimates of home insulation levels in Great Britain. See following link: http://www.decc.gov.uk/en/content/cms/statistics/energy_stats/en_effic_stats/home_ins_est.aspx

Nuclear Power

Paul Flynn: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change with reference to paragraph 2.159 of his autumn statement 2012, in what respects the new government-industry partnership for the civil nuclear sector will differ from his Department's Nuclear Development Forum; and what assessment he has made of the resource implications of his Department's involvement in the new partnership.

John Hayes: The Nuclear Development Forum was set up to secure the long-term future of nuclear power generation in the UK by providing an opportunity where industry could hold Government to account on delivery of the key facilitative actions set out in the 2008 White Paper. The Forum has successfully discharged this function and will be replaced by the Nuclear Industry Council.
	This Council has been established to lead the strategic dialogue between Government and the civil nuclear industry as a whole to maximise the economic potential of the sector and to facilitate the delivery of UK energy policy in this area.
	Officials from DECC and the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills supported by the Nuclear Industry Association will provide administrative and secretariat support for the newly-formed Council and the cost associated for providing meeting venues. Any particular workstreams or working group activities or issues the Council will want to explore in more detail will be resourced by companies or organisations represented on the Nuclear Industry Council.

Official Hospitality

Andrew Gwynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change how much his Department has spent for hospitality purposes on (a) Champagne, (b) wines, (c) spirits, (d) soft drinks, (e) flowers, (f) laundry, (g) porterage, (h) china, (i) cutlery and (j) venue hire since May 2010.

Gregory Barker: The Department's total expenditure on all types of hospitality for the period May 2010 to end October 2012 is £78,100. It is not possible to break down expenditure into the 10 categories requested without incurring disproportionate cost.
	This includes expenditure on venue hire and catering for any industry, training or team events that have to occur offsite because of space constraints, and expenditure on food and drink provided at meetings and events for the benefit of guests from outside the Department.

Secondment

Huw Irranca-Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change pursuant to the answers of 29 November 2012, Official Report, columns 481-2W, on secondment, which of the major UK utility companies and related energy utility organisations provided each secondment referred to in those answers.

Gregory Barker: The secondees referred to in the previous answers were from the following companies:
	Centrica: one
	EDF: one
	RWE NPower: one
	National Grid: five
	Electricity Supply Board: one
	Elexon: one.

Warm Front Scheme

Caroline Flint: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change how much funding allocated to the Warm Front Scheme in 2012-13 has been (a) spent, (b) committed to expenditure and (c) unspent.

Gregory Barker: The budget for Warm Front and associated activity in 2012-13 is £100 million. Of this £34.8 million has been spent with a further £15.1 million committed but not yet spent(1). Of the total budget £50.1 million currently remains unspent(2).
	(1) Figures as of the end of November 2012.
	(2) Figures exclude the potential value of expenditure on households who have already applied for the scheme but who are currently awaiting a survey.

Warm Front Scheme

Caroline Flint: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change (1) what the average length of time was for an applicant for a Warm Front grant who is awaiting a survey to (a) have a survey completed and (b) be informed whether their application has been accepted or rejected, in 2012-13 to date;

Caroline Flint: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change (2) what the average length of time was between the lodging of an application for a Warm Front grant and a decision to accept or reject the application in 2012-13 to date.

Gregory Barker: An application to the Warm Front scheme can be accepted or rejected at two points. The first is at the time of taking the application, if it becomes apparent that the applicant does not meet the qualifying criteria. The second is at the point of the property survey.
	The average time from the point of application to complete a survey and so confirm a customer's eligibility is currently 31.76 days.

Warm Front Scheme

Caroline Flint: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change how many applications for a Warm Front grant have been (a) accepted and (b) rejected in 2012-13 to date.

Gregory Barker: Since April 2011, the Warm Front scheme eligibility criteria have been focused on low income and vulnerable households with a thermally inefficient home. In September 2012, the criteria were broadened: the benefits criteria were brought into line with the Energy Company Obligation (Affordable Warmth) and the energy efficiency threshold was increased to SAP63 (from SAP55).
	Between 1 April and 30 November 2012, 21,956 applications were found to meet the scheme criteria in place at the time of application. In the same period, a further 13,418 applications were from ineligible households.
	A further 9,205 applications were received during the same period and have yet to be surveyed, meaning that eligibility has not yet been confirmed. A majority of these cases is expected to qualify for Warm Front assistance.

Warm Front Scheme

Caroline Flint: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what the budget for the Warm Front scheme is in 2012-13; and how much of the funding so allocated has been spent to date.

Gregory Barker: The budget for Warm Front and associated activity in 2012-13 is £100 million. Of this £34.8 million has been spent with a further £15.1 million committed but not yet spent(1).
	(1) Figures as of the end of November 2012.

Warm Front Scheme

Caroline Flint: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change how many households in (a) England and (b) each parliamentary constituency in England have received assistance under the Warm Front scheme since April 2012; and what the average level of grant provided under the scheme was.

Gregory Barker: A table containing the information requested will be placed in the Libraries of the House.

WALES

Official Hospitality

Andrew Gwynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how much his Department has spent for hospitality purposes on (a) Champagne, (b) wines, (c) spirits, (d) soft drinks, (e) flowers, (f) laundry, (g) porterage, (h) china, (i) cutlery and (j) venue hire since May 2010.

Stephen Crabb: During financial year 2010-11, the Wales Office had no spend on Champagne; spirits; flowers; laundry; porterage; china; cutlery or venue hire for hospitality purposes. The Department did spend £129.08 on wines and £89.22 on soft drinks for hospitality purposes.
	During financial year 2011-12 the Wales Office spent £186.22 on wines and £23.39 on soft drinks. No costs were incurred against the other categories listed.

Pay

Andrew Gwynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how much was paid in (a) year end and (b) in-year bonuses to officials in his Department in each of the last two years.

Stephen Crabb: There were no ‘in-year’ bonuses paid to officials in the last two years. However, the ‘year end’ bonuses, paid in accordance with the applicable civil service appraisal systems were as follows:
	
		
			  Number of end year bonuses Total amount (£) 
			 2010-11 10 16,700 
			 2011-12 8 15,900 
		
	
	The Wales Office is not an employer in its own right and therefore has to fulfil the terms and conditions of its staff depending on their home Departments, including entitlements to particular allowances. Similarly the payment of performance related bonuses—all of which are non-consolidated—is not a decision for the Wales Office. Those staff who delivered outstanding performances were entitled to a bonus payment by virtue of the terms and conditions of their home Department.

Pay

Dominic Raab: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how many employees in his Department were paid (a) between £80,000 and £100,000 per year and (b) in excess of £100,000 per year in each of the last five years.

Stephen Crabb: The information is as follows:
	
		
			 Number 
			 Financial year Those earning between £80,000 and £100,000 Those earning more than £100,000 
			 2007-08 1 0 
			 2008-09 0 1 
			 2009-10 1 1 
			 2010-11 2 0 
			 2011-12 2 0

Public Appointments

Michael Weir: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales 
	(1)  which recruitment consultants his Department used to select candidates for public appointments within his departmental remit in each year for which figures are available since 2007; and how much was paid in fees to each such company in each year since 2007;
	(2)  how many public appointments (a) regulated by and (b) not regulated by the Office of the Commissioner for Public Appointments have been made by his Department since 2007; and in how many such cases the services of recruitment consultants were retained;
	(3)  when his Department last assessed the (a) utility and (b) value of psychometric testing in its recruitment and selection of candidates for public appointments on advisory boards;
	(4)  what his Department's policy is on the payment of travel expenses to candidates in respect of their attendance at assessment centres and interviews when pursuing applications for selection to a public appointment.

Stephen Crabb: The Wales Office does not make public appointments.

WOMEN AND EQUALITIES

Research

Chris Kelly: To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities what external policy research her Department has commissioned in each of the last six years; which organisation was commissioned to provide each such piece of research; and what the cost of each such piece of research was.

Maria Miller: Since the establishment of the Government Equalities Office (GEO) on 12 October 2007, the GEO Research and Analysis Team has conducted or commissioned a range of research on equality issues. On 1 April 2011, Government Equalities Office became part of Home Office; research commissioned since that date has been included for thoroughness.
	Based on current records, the following table lists external policy research commissioned in each financial year by Government Equalities Office, the name of the contracted organisation and the cost. Totals for each year reflect the total value of external policy research commissioned in that year, and not necessarily actual expenditure; some projects will have completed in following financial years.
	No external policy research has been commissioned to date this financial year (2012-13).
	
		
			 Research Organisation Total value of research (£) 
			 2007-08   
			 Women Not for Sale COI 9,447 
			 Total value 2007-08 — 9,447 
			    
			 2008-09   
			 Attitudes to prostitution Ipsos-MORI 17,889 
			 Evaluating communications on violence against women and girls COI 98,074 
			 Equality reporting in company annual reports IFF 46,900 
			 National Equality Standards and government intervention NE Equality Kitemark 43,600 
			 Analysis of intersectional discrimination cases using Citizens' Advice Bureaux data Citizens' Advice 8,280 
			 Meta-evaluation of gender equality in the workplace National Institute of Economic and Social Research 50,000 
			 Discrimination in the labour market National Institute of Economic and Social Research 2,460 
			 Women in business YouGov PLC 12,443 
			 Impact of the economic downturn on women and families Ipsos-MORI 64,335 
			 Perceptions of fair and equal treatment NatCen 93,743 
		
	
	
		
			 The use of age-based practices in financial services Oxera 64,055 
			 Stability and sustainability of the violence against women voluntary sector New Philanthropy Capital 84,800 
			 National Equality Panel LSE 450,000 
			 Measurement Framework: Measuring autonomy University of Oxford 139,650 
			 Case for Equality PWC 12,500 
			 Assessment of Public Sector Duties Schneider-Ross 51,000 
			 Collective Redress (representative actions) in Discrimination and Equal Pay Cases Lexicon Ltd. 31,000 
			 Exploring Drivers of Change in the Gender Pay Gap over time University of Manchester 81,183 
			 Poll on attitudes to women offenders Ipsos-MORI 8,635 
			 Exploring perceptions of labour market discrimination NIESR 42,730 
			 Total value, 2008-09 — 1,403,277 
			    
			 2009-10   
			 Women's representation poll Ipsos Mori 9,275 
			 Women Not For Sale 2 COI 16,060 
			 Evaluation of the Special Funds to support sexual violence charities Shared Intelligence 87,550 
			 Review of evidence to support the Stern Review Durham University 41,812 
			 Exploring caste discrimination NIESR 74,040 
			 Improving Understanding of Quality Part-Time Work—definitions and what works? University of Warwick 64,318 
			 Women's choices in the labour market NIESR 24,860 
			 LGB&T friendly workplaces NIESR 64,880 
			 Evaluation of BAME Councillor taskforce Creative research 63,230 
			 Further analysis of Councillor Census LGAR 900 
			 Public appointments -awareness, attitudes and experiences Ipsos Mori 14,800 
			 Experiences of and barriers to participation in public and political life for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people OPM 51,121 
			 Gender, ethnicity and poverty ISER 44,880 
			 Diversity of representation in public appointments Common Purpose 5,750 
			 Total value, 2009-10 — 563,476 
			    
			 2010-11   
			 Equality Act evidence base Equality and Diversity Forum 4,524 
			 Voluntary Gender Equality Reporting in Small Businesses (150-250 Employees) Institute for Employment Studies 40,315 
			 Total value, 2010-11 — 44,839 
			    
			 2011-12   
			 Underpinning the case for Pay Audits Incomes Data Services 5,000 
		
	
	
		
			 Body Confidence - rapid evidence review NB Research 10,250 
			 Organisations' understanding and response to the 2010 Centre for Research in Social 92,388 
			 Equality Act Policy  
			 Demand for Discrimination Advice University College London 13,160 
			 Understanding the Business Case for Equality(1) Westminster Business School 21,000 
			 Total value 2011-12 — 747,798 
			    
			 2012-13   
			 No external policy research commissioned — — 
			 (1) Jointly commissioned with Department for Business, Innovation and Skills; cost to GEO of 50% of contracted reflected in table.

SCOTLAND

Official Hospitality

Andrew Gwynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how much his Department has spent for hospitality purposes on (a) Champagne, (b) wines, (c) spirits, (d) soft drinks, (e) flowers, (f) laundry, (g) porterage, (h) china, (i) cutlery and (j) venue hire since May 2010.

David Mundell: The Scotland Office does not hold the information in the format requested. For the financial year 2010-11, no breakdown is available. For the financial years 2011-12 and 2012-13 the breakdowns are as follows:
	
		
			 £ 
			  Financial year 
			  2011-12 2012-13(1) 
			 Venue Hire 6,440.00 123.68 
			 Printing 1,647.40 584.72 
			 Flowers 0 0 
			 Catering Costs 16,625.96 16,499.39 
			 Other 752.68 80.00 
			 (1) To end November. 
		
	
	The Scotland Office records its hospitality expenditure in accordance with the principles of Managing Public Money.

Pay

Andrew Gwynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how much was paid in (a) year end and (b) in-year bonuses to officials in his Department in each of the last two years.

David Mundell: All staff in the Scotland Office are on secondment from other Government bodies, in the majority of cases, the Scottish Government or the Ministry of Justice and therefore staff may be eligible for bonuses, allowances and other payments additional to basic salary in different ways through their parent bodies' pay arrangements.
	The Scotland Office is not responsible for payments made through end of year performance payments or allowances under staffs' parent bodies' pay arrangements and does not hold information centrally on these matters.
	The Scotland Office is however able to directly authorise non-consolidated and non-pensionable bonus payments (including small and instantaneous awards, e.g. vouchers) in recognition of special effort, achievement and commitment. The following table shows the cost of such payments in each of the last two years:
	
		
			 Financial year Total cost of payments (£) 
			 2012-11 3,670 
			 2011-12 2,265

Pay

Dominic Raab: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many employees in his Department were paid (a) between £80,000 and £100,000 per year and (b) in excess of £100,000 per year in each of the last five years.

David Mundell: The number of employees in the Scotland Office paid (a) between £80,000 and £100,000 per year and (b) in excess of £100,000 per year in each of the last five years is shown in the following table.
	
		
			  Between £80,000 and £100,000 In excess of £100,000 
			 2007-08 1 0 
			 2008-09 1 0 
			 2009-10 1 0 
			 2010-11 1 0 
			 2011-12 1 0

Public Appointments

Michael Weir: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland which recruitment consultants his Department used to select candidates for public appointments within his departmental remit in each year for which figures are available since 2007; and how much was paid in fees to each such company in each year since 2007.

David Mundell: The Boundary Commission for Scotland is the only Public Body which comes under the remit of the Scotland Office. No recruitment consultants have been used to select candidates for appointments to the Boundary Commission.

Public Appointments

Michael Weir: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many public appointments (a) regulated by and (b) not regulated by the Office of the Commissioner for Public Appointments have been made by his Department since 2007; and in how many such cases the services of recruitment consultants were retained.

David Mundell: The Boundary Commission for Scotland is the only public body which comes under the remit of the Scotland Office. The Secretary of State for Scotland, has made two appointments and two reappointments to the Boundary Commission for Scotland since 2007. These appointments were regulated by the Office of the Commissioner for Public Appointments and no recruitment consultants were used.

Public Appointments

Michael Weir: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland when his Department last assessed the (a) utility and (b) value of psychometric testing in its recruitment and selection of candidates for public appointments on advisory boards.

David Mundell: The Scotland Office has not used psychometric testing in its recruitment and selection of candidates for public appointments on advisory boards.

Public Appointments

Michael Weir: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what his Department's policy is on the payment of travel expenses to candidates in respect of their attendance at assessment centres and interviews when pursuing applications for selection to a public appointment.

David Mundell: The Scotland Office policy is that travel expenses incurred by candidates attending interviews for public appointment will be paid at current civil service rates and that every effort should be made by candidates to travel in the most economical way.

Sickness Absence

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland pursuant to the answer of 8 November 2012, Official Report, column 672W, on sick leave, what assessment he has made of the difference in the proportion of working days lost due to ill health between officers at administrative grades and senior civil servant grade; and what assessment he has made of the use of mindfulness-based therapies in reducing the proportion of working days lost in his Department.

David Mundell: All Scotland Office staff are on secondment from other Government bodies, principally the Scottish Government and the Ministry of Justice which have their own absence management policies. Local managers keep sickness absences under constant review and apply the relevant policies.
	Staff working in the Scotland Office can access advice and assistance through an occupational health care provider, which provides professional, independent medical guidance.

NORTHERN IRELAND

Official Hospitality

Andrew Gwynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how much her Department has spent for hospitality purposes on (a) Champagne, (b) wines, (c) spirits, (d) soft drinks, (e) flowers, (f) laundry, (g) porterage, (h) china, (i) cutlery and (j) venue hire since May 2010.

Michael Penning: Since May 2010, my Department has spent the following for hospitality purposes.
	
		
			  £ 
			 Champagne 0 
			 Wines/spirits and soft drinks 10,126 
			 Flowers 2,705 
		
	
	
		
			 Laundry 3,406 
			 Porterage 1,172 
			 China 1,536 
			 Cutlery 40 
			 Venue Hire 0

Pay

Dominic Raab: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many employees in her Department were paid (a) between £80,000 and £100,000 per year and (b) in excess of £100,000 per year in each of the last five years.

Michael Penning: Comparable figures for my Department as it is now configured are not available for the years preceding the completion of devolution of policing and justice functions on 12 April 2010.
	As shown in my Department's 2010-11 annual report, two members of staff were paid salaries over £80,000, and two were paid over £100,000. One member of staff earning over £100,000 retired in May 2010.
	My Department's 2011-12 annual report stated that there were two members of staff on salaries over £80,000, one of whom retired in November 2011, and two who were on salaries over £100,000, one of whom retired in December 2011.
	For the 2012-13 financial year, I would refer my hon. Friend to the reply I gave him on 22 November 2012, Official Report, column 583W.

CULTURE MEDIA AND SPORT

Advisory Council on Libraries

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport with reference to section 1 and Schedule 1 of the Public Bodies Act 2011, what progress she has made towards the formal abolition of the Library Advisory Council for England and the transfer of its functions to another body in compliance with section 2 of the Public Libraries and Museums Act 1964.

Edward Vaizey: The Department will consider the formal abolition and transfer of any functions as part of its wider reform work of arm's length bodies.

Grants

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how much funding her Department has provided in grant in aid to each arm's length body for which she is responsible in (a) 2010-11 and (b) 2011-12; and how much such funding she expects to allocate to each body in (i) 2012-13, (ii) 2013-14 and (iii) 2014-15.

Edward Vaizey: holding answer 10 December 2012
	The grant in aid that the Department for Culture, Media and Sport has paid to its arm's length bodies in 2010-11 and 2011-12 and the amounts that have been allocated in the period 2012-13 through to 2014-15 is set out in the following table.
	
		
			  Grant in aid (£ million) 
			 Body 2010-11 final 2011-12 voted 2012-13 voted 2013-14 planned 2014-15 planned 
			 British Museum 46.343 56.051 45.378 44.735 44.59 
			 Natural History Museum 48.586 46.48 45.76 45.204 45.172 
			 Imperial War Museum 23.91 21.961 21.436 21.239 21.273 
			 National Gallery 28.201 26.744 26.32 25.98 25.911 
			 National Maritime Museum 19.002 17.258 16.848 16.693 16.723 
			 National Museums Liverpool 23.712 21.875 21.561 21.323 21.327 
			 National Portrait Gallery 7.577 7.398 7.277 7.183 7.172 
			 National Museum of Science and Industry 40.153 37.588 43.61 43.089 43.064 
			 Tate Gallery 54.729 45.105 34.912 25.037 33.441 
			 Victoria and Albert Museum 44.318 41.355 40.705 40.203 40.167 
			 Wallace Collection 4.212 2.983 2.946 2.918 2.922 
			 Museum of Science and Industry Manchester(3) 4.882 3.998 — — — 
			 Sir John Soane's Museum 1.169 1.13 1.111 1.096 1.094 
			 Horniman Museum 4.518 4.385 4.199 4.139 4.127 
			 Geffrye Museum 1.773 1.674 1.645 1.621 1.616 
			 Royal Armouries 8.389 7.901 7.773 7.673 7.662 
			 British Library 105.85 101.873 106.79 85,544 93.407 
			 Public Lending Right 7.451 7.230 7.094 6.979 6.969 
			 Museums. Libraries and Archives Council(1) 15.218 8.961 — — — 
			 Arts Council England(4) 438.52 393.602 473.75 472.85 458.87 
			 Sport England 121.39 98.366 100.49 91.968 85.671 
			 UK Sport 55.363 60.651 65.966 39.63 43.345 
			 United Kingdom Anti-Doping 6.372 6.344 6.498 6.142 5.852 
			 Sports Ground Safety Authority 0.98 1.197 1.176 1.158 1.142 
			 English Heritage 129.85 121.193 103.31 97.714 96.911 
			 Churches Conservation Trust 3.162 2.926 2.828 2.743 2.695 
		
	
	
		
			 Commission For Architecture and the Built Environment(1) 4.69 3.427 — — — 
			 National Heritage Memorial Fund 0 0 5 10 5 
			 The Royal Parks 17.094 17.383 18.019 15.868 15.324 
			 Royal Household(2) 17.094 15.71 — — — 
			 VisitBritain (including VisitEngland) 40.323 47.771 48.672 30.892 28.708 
			 UK Film Council(1) 45.563 1.1 — — — 
			 British Film Institute — 30.589 19.152 22.689 22.756 
			 Ofcom — — 101.95 86.7 17.2 
			 Welsh Fourth Channel Authority (S4C) 99.647 90 83 6.7 7 
			 National Lottery Commission 5.22 6.571 4.095 (5)— (5)— 
			 Gambling Commission 0.481 — — — — 
			 Olympic Delivery Authority 971.2 1,066.1 620.2 7.3 -163 
			 (1) Denotes bodies which are being abolished. (2) Royal Household funding passed to HM Treasury. (3) Funding passed to National Museum of Science and Industry. (4) Includes funding for the Museums and Arts programme, administration and capital funding; and funds for cultural education transferred to ACE from DFE via DCMS. (5 )Yearly budget. 
		
	
	These figures do not include any reductions announced in the autumn statement
	From 2013-14, S4C will receive additional funding from the BBC.
	Olympic Delivery Authority net capital receipts assumed in spending review for 2014-15.

Official Hospitality

Andrew Gwynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how much her Department has spent for hospitality purposes on (a) Champagne, (b) wines, (c) spirits, (d) soft drinks, (e) flowers, (f) laundry, (g) porterage, (h) china, (i) cutlery and (j) venue hire since May 2010.

Edward Vaizey: The Department for Culture, Media and Sport's accounting system does not report these items separately and a breakdown of the figures can be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
	The Department has a strict policy restricting the use of hospitality. All expenditure is incurred in accordance with the principles of Managing Public Money and the Treasury handbook on Regularity and Propriety.

Olympic Games 2012

Tessa Jowell: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what steps her Department is taking to safeguard the legacy of the London 2012 Olympics in the policy areas for which she is responsible; and what budget her Department has allocated for that purpose.

Edward Vaizey: Through VisitBritain, we have created the biggest ever international tourism campaign, as we look to take advantage of the opportunities afforded by 2012. Together, the £100 million tactical marketing campaign and the GREAT Britain image campaign is aiming to deliver 4.6 million extra visitors and £2.3 billion additional spend over four years. An additional £30 million is being invested in the GREAT campaign for 2013-14, which comes on top of £25 million already being invested during this financial year. VisitEngland, working with the tourist boards of the devolved nations, has created a £6 million national TV and cinema advertising campaign promoting holidays at home. The campaign generated 300,000 extra hotel nights in its first three months alone and has already delivered over £100 million in additional expenditure. We will be building on the success of the 'Holiday at Home' campaign through a new ad campaign next year.
	In January, Sport England launched its £1 billion Youth and Community strategy which aims to contribute to the sporting legacy of the Games by creating a sporting habit for life and increasing regular participation. This is in addition to the £150 million Places, People, Play programme, which is creating a grassroots sport legacy from the Games, through facilities investment, workforce and training opportunities and the chance to try new activities. Also, the School Games is giving every school and child in England the opportunity to participate in competitive sport, including meaningful opportunities for disabled children.
	This Government purposely intended that the Cultural Olympiad be delivered by and through the cultural sector, and in that sense, the opportunity remains for the sector to build on the many individual projects that were inspired by the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, rather than for the Government to attempt to prescribe future artistic and cultural initiatives. However, DCMS has asked Lord Hall of Birkenhead, as Chair of the Cultural Olympiad Board, to continue to lead the Board as it oversees and ensures that the legacy from the Games becomes fully embedded within the cultural sector.

Parking

Tom Greatrex: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport 
	(1)  what contracts for providing car park management services to her Department are held by private companies;
	(2)  what the total value is of any contracts between her Department and private companies for car park management services in (a) the UK, (b) Scotland and (c) South Lanarkshire local authority area.

Edward Vaizey: The Department for Culture, Media and Sport does not have any contracts for providing car park management services.

Public Appointments

Michael Weir: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport which recruitment consultants her Department used to select candidates for public appointments within her departmental remit in each year for which figures are available since 2007; and how much was paid in fees to each such company in each year since 2007.

Edward Vaizey: The information is as follows:
	
		
			  Recruitment consultant Cost £ (excl. VAT) 
			 2007-08 Odgers Berndtson 23,500 
			  Saxton Bampfylde 11,700 
			 2008-09 Veredus (Capita Resourcing Ltd) 17,250 
			  Saxton Bampfylde 18,000 
			 2009-10 None None 
			 2010-11 Egon Zehnder 10,000 
			 2011-12 ERG 7,000

TREASURY

Charities: Israel

Richard Burden: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether charities providing financial support for Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territories can be registered with HM Revenue and Customs for tax purposes.

Sajid Javid: Where an organisation is recognised as a charity by the Charity Commission and by HM Revenue and Customs it is entitled to UK tax relief on its income, subject to that income being applied for wholly charitable purposes only. Applying income for wholly charitable purposes can include making a payment to a body outside the UK, but for tax relief to remain intact HM Revenue and Customs must be satisfied that the charity has taken reasonable steps to. ensure that payment will be applied for charitable purposes only.
	The Charities Act 2011 lists charitable purposes, which are followed for UK tax purposes. It follows that if payments are made to organisations in Israel and those payments are applied for wholly charitable purposes, the charity remains entitled to tax relief.
	If a charity applies its income for non-charitable purposes, tax relief is denied, and where it has already been given it is recovered.

Communications Data Bill (Draft)

Nick Brown: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he has made an assessment of the potential effects on his public expenditure targets of the future costs implied by the draft Communications Data Bill.

Danny Alexander: The current estimated economic costs to Government of the Communications Capability Development (CCD) programme, which includes the cost of implementing the measures enabled by proposed draft legislation on communications data, are up to £1.8 billion over the period to 2020-21. This expenditure is not yet committed, and so would represent an additional pressure were the report to go forward.
	The programme's business case is being revised at present, including the costs and benefits. The Home Office envisage completing this work by early 2013, and HM Treasury will consider the revised business case when it is available.

Construction: Self-employed

Iain Wright: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will assess the implications for his policies of bogus self-employment schemes in the construction industry; what assessment he has made of the effect of such schemes on revenue to the Exchequer; if he will implement the recommendations of the report, The Great Payroll Scandal, published by the Union of Construction, Allied Trades and Technicians on 3 December 2012; and if he will make a statement.

David Gauke: The Government recognise false self-employment is a risk to income tax and national insurance contributions collection and is detrimental to workers' employment rights in construction and other industries. HMRC deploys compliance resources to address false self-employment in the construction industry and more widely.
	With reference to what assessment has been made, I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to the House on 12 November 2012, Official Report, column 4W.
	The Government have no current plans to implement the recommendations of the report.

Economic Situation

Tom Blenkinsop: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate he has made of the amount by which the Government will not meet its borrowing targets by 2015, if funds from the Bank of England and the auctioning of the 4G mobile spectrum were excluded.

Sajid Javid: The Office for Budget Responsibility forecasts that the Government remain on course to meet the fiscal mandate in 2017-18, both including and excluding the effects of the APF cash transfers. The OBR has set out the impact of the asset purchase facility cash transfers on its fiscal forecasts. The OBR has certified the Government estimate that receipts from the sale of 4G spectrum will reduce borrowing by£3.5 billion in 2012-13 and have no effect in 2015.

Employment

Steve Rotheram: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the rate of job growth has been in (a) Liverpool, Walton constituency, (b) Liverpool and (c) England in each year since 1997; and what estimate he has made of such growth in each of the next three financial years.

Sajid Javid: The Office for National Statistics (ONS) employment statistics for Liverpool and Liverpool, Walton are not available back to 1997. Table 1 shows growth in the employment level each year from the year to June 2005. Employment increased by 2.3% between the year to June 2011 and the year to June 2012 in Liverpool, and 16.4% in Liverpool, Walton. Estimates of employment at the constituency level are more volatile than estimates for larger geographic areas, reflecting the small sample size for survey respondents.
	Table 2 gives employment growth for England back to 1997. Employment increased by 2.0% between 2011Q3.and 2012Q3.
	Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) is responsible for employment forecasts, which are only available at the UK level. Employment is projected to rise in every year of the OBR's December 2012 Economic and fiscal outlook. In the next three financial years employment in the UK is forecast to increase from 29.6 million in this financial year to 30 million in 2015-16
	
		
			 Table 1: Growth in employment level 
			 Percentage 
			  Liverpool Liverpool, Walton 
			 Year to June 2005 to Year to June 2006 -2.4 -53 
			 Year to June 2006 to Year to June 2007 5.6 9.0 
			 Year to June 2007 to Year to June 2008 0.1 4.9 
			 Year to June 2008 to Year to June 2009 -3.7 -8.4 
			 Year to June 2009 to Year to June 2010 2.0 8.3 
			 Year to June 2010 to Year to June 2011 -1.2 -6.2 
			 Year to June 2011 to Year to June 2012 2.3 16.4 
			 Source: ONS 
		
	
	
		
			 Table 2: Growth in employment level 
			 Percentage 
			  England 
			 1997Q3 to 1998Q3 1.3 
			 1998Q3 to 1999Q3 1.4 
			 1999Q3 to 2000Q3 1.2 
			 2000Q3 to 2001Q3 0.6 
			 2001Q3 to 2002Q3 0.6 
			 2002Q3 to 2003Q3 0.8 
			 2003Q3 to 2004Q3 1.0 
			 2004Q3 to 2005Q3 1.3 
			 2005Q3 to 2006Q3 0.7 
			 2006Q3 to 2007Q3 0.6 
			 2007Q3 to 2008Q3 0.5 
			 2008Q3 to 2009Q3 -1.7 
			 2009Q3 to 2010Q3 1.2 
			 2010Q3 to 2011Q3 -0.6 
			 2011Q3 to 2012Q3 2.0 
			 Source: ONS

Housing Benefit

Guto Bebb: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer which areas will receive increases of (a) more and (b) less than one per cent for local housing allowance rates in 2014-15 and 2015-16.

Steve Webb: I have been asked to reply 
	on behalf of the Department for Work and Pensions.
	In 2014-15 and 2015-16, increases to local housing allowance rates will be limited to a maximum of 1 % or to the 30th percentile of market rents, whichever is lower. We have set aside £140 million of the savings generated to target further help to areas most affected by these new limits.
	Our intention is that this funding will be used to increase the local housing allowance rates by more than 1% in areas where rent increases are causing a shortage of affordable accommodation.
	This funding will be available from 2014-15 and we will of course consider the evidence emerging next year to decide how it is targeted.
	In 2013-14 local housing allowance rates will be uprated as planned, and are now published on the websites of Valuation Officer Agency, Rent Officers Wales and Rent Service Scotland.

Income Tax: Wales

David Davies: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what proportion of people living in Wales pay income tax at (a) a higher and (b) the additional rate.

David Gauke: The information requested is shown in the following table for 2012-13:
	
		
			 Thousands 
			 Taxpayers resident in Wales(1)  
			 Basic rate 1,250 
			 Higher rate 120 
			 Additional rate 5 
			   
			 Wales Population estimate(2) 2,470 
			 (1) These projections are based on the 2009-10 Survey of Personal Incomes (SPI) data projected in line with the Office for Budget Responsibility's December 2012 Economic and fiscal outlook. (2) Office for National Statistics, 2010 mid year based population projections, adjusted to financial year estimates for individuals aged 16 and over. 
		
	
	ONS population estimates are at mid year whereas taxpayer estimates represent numbers of individuals with tax liabilities arising during the financial year.

Official Hospitality

Andrew Gwynne: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much his Department has spent for hospitality purposes on (a) Champagne, (b) wines, (c) spirits, (d) soft drinks, (e) flowers, (f) laundry, (g) porterage, (h) china, (i) cutlery and (j) venue hire since May 2010.

Sajid Javid: The Treasury's accounting system does not separately identify elements of hospitality spending and the information could not be provided within the disproportionate costs threshold.
	Since May 2010, £34,000 has been spent on hospitality at functions attended by external guests comprising £15,000 between 1 May and 31 March 2011, a further £14,000 between 1 April 2011 and 31 March 2012 and £5,000 between 1 April 2012 and 30 November 2012.
	The attendance of Treasury staff at such functions is dependent on a necessary business need and their number should not exceed the number of external guests. The provision of refreshments, including hospitality, at meetings or functions within HM Treasury for Treasury staff, other Whitehall civil servants and non-executive directors where no external guests are present has been prohibited since 1 July 2010.
	In the financial year prior to May 2010 (1 April 2009 to 31 March 2010), £116,000 was spent on hospitality.

Overseas Investment

Jim Murphy: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer which countries received UK foreign direct investment in each financial year since 2000-01.

Sajid Javid: The Office for National Statistics (ONS) publishes calendar year estimates of outward foreign direct investment by UK firms. The most recent publication was released 6 December 2012 and provides figures up to and including 2011. The full dataset and associated publications are available on the ONS website:
	http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/fdi/foreign-direct-investment/index.html
	The published information does not include the destination of investment for every country, and is available for calendar rather than financial years.
	The stock of UK outward investment by UK firms has risen from £600 billion in 2001 to £1,098 billion in 2011. The largest stocks of outward direct investment by UK firms are in the USA (£210 billion) and the European Union (£531 billion); in 2011 these regions accounted for three quarters of the outward investment stock. Within the EU, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, France, Ireland and Belgium have the largest stocks of direct investment by UK firms. Although advanced economies account for the majority of UK firms' stock of outward investment, the UK stock in the major emerging economies has grown strongly over the past decade, from £8 billion in 2001 to £42 billion in 2011.

Parking

Tom Greatrex: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer 
	(1)  what contracts for providing car park management services to his Department are held by private companies;
	(2)  what the total value is of any contracts between his Department and private companies for car park management services in (a) the UK, (b) Scotland and (c) South Lanarkshire local authority area.

Sajid Javid: HM Treasury do not currently hold any contracts for car park management services.

Partnerships: Welfare Tax Credits

Stephen Timms: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many people in receipt of tax credits are partners in a business partnership.

David Gauke: This information would be available only at disproportionate cost.

Pay

Dominic Raab: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many employees in his Department were paid in excess of (a) £80,000 and (b) £100,000 in each of the last five years.

Sajid Javid: holding answer 10 December 2012
	The number of Treasury employees who were in receipt of an annual salary in excess over (a) £80,000 and (b) £100,000 in each of the last five years are shown in the following table:
	
		
			   Number 
			 End financial year Number of staff Over £80,000 Over £100,000 
			 2007-08 42 24 18 
			 2008-09 38 20 18 
			 2009-10 47 27 20 
			 2010-11 73 36 37 
			 2011-12 75 36 39 
		
	
	Information on HM Treasury salaries is published in the HM Treasury organogram which can be found at:
	http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/about_hmtgroup_organogram.htm

Pay

Andrew Gwynne: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much was paid in (a) year end and (b) in-year bonuses to officials in his Department in each of the last two years.

Sajid Javid: The amounts paid in (a) year end and (b) in-year bonuses for 2011-12 were disclosed under the transparency agenda on 27 October 2011 and can be found at:
	http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/d/transparency_treasurygroup_performance_pay_201011.csv
	The information for 2011-12 is planned for publication on 20 December 2012 and will be available on the following web page:
	http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/about_hmtgroup_organogram.htm

PAYE

Stephen Timms: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many businesses using PAYE have (a) between two and four employees, (b) between five and nine employees, (c) between 10 and 14 employees and (d) over 15 employees; what the total number of employees employed in each category is; and how many claim tax credits.

David Gauke: This information requested is available only at disproportionate cost, as the data is not centrally held by HM Revenue and Customs data systems.

Personal Income

Steve Rotheram: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer 
	(1)  if he will estimate the proportion of the national income earned by people earning more than £150,000 a year in each year since 2001-02;
	(2)  what proportion of the national income was earned by people earning an annual salary between (a) £10,000 and £20,000, (b) £20,000 and £30,000, (c) £30,000 and £40,000, (d) £40,000 and £50,000, (e) £50,000 and £60,000 and (f) £60,000 and over in each year since 2001-02.

David Gauke: Figures for the proportion of gross income of all taxpayers by position in the income distribution are published in HMRC's Personal Taxes Statistics table 2.4.
	It shows that the proportion of gross taxpayer income earned by the bottom 50%—those with incomes below around £21,000 this financial year—is estimated to be higher now than at any point during the period the hon. Gentleman mentions. By contrast, the share of gross taxpayer income of this group declined between 2000 and 2010.
	The share of income before tax of the top 1%—which broadly comprises those earning above £150,000—rose from just over 11% of total income in 2001-02 to almost 14% in 2009-10. Since 2009-10, that has declined back to around 11% in the current financial year, according to HMRC's latest projected estimates.
	Because of inflation and economic growth, the top 1% of taxpayers included those with an income above around £110,000 in 2001-02, and the bottom 50% included those with an income below around £16,000.
	Data available at:
	http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/statistics/tax-statistics/table2-4.pdf

Sickness Absence

David Ruffley: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the average number of working days lost per person through ill health was in (a) his Department and (b) each of its agencies in each of the last five years.

Sajid Javid: The following table gives HM Treasury absentee rates for each of the last five financial years.
	
		
			 Average working days lost per employee 
			  1 April 2007 to 31 March 2008 1 April 2008 to 31 March 2009 1 April 2009 to 31 March 2010 1 April 2010 to 31 March 2011 1 April 2011 to 31 March 2012 
			 HM Treasury 4.7 3.6 3.6 3.4 3.9 
			 Dept Management Office 4.2 3.7 4.9 3.8 4.6

Taxation

Paul Flynn: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will set out the basis of the calculation that £22 billion of additional revenues per year will be secured by HM Revenue and Customs as a result of the measures set out in paragraph 1.176 of the Autumn Statement 2012.

David Gauke: As part of the 2010 spending review, the Government decided to reinvest £917 million into HMRC for additional compliance activities to bring in £7 billion more revenues in 2014-15, on top of the Department's target of £13 billion.
	The recent announcement of an additional investment of £77 million up to 2014-15 is also targeted at tackling evasion and avoidance and will bring in a further £2 billion in 2014-15.

Taxation: Aviation

Zac Goldsmith: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether his Department's research on dynamic scoring and the broader-economy effects of changes to taxation has considered the effect of differential prices at UK airports.

Sajid Javid: The Department has not currently undertaken an assessment of the effect of differential prices at UK airports. However, HM Revenue and Customs recently concluded research into this subject. The research has been published on HMRC's website and it is available as “No. 188: Modelling the Effects of Price Differentials at UK Airports” at:
	http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/research/reports.htm

Taxation: Switzerland

Christopher Huhne: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether the recent agreement with the Swiss Government provides immunity from prosecution for persons paying the withholding tax.

David Gauke: The recent agreement with the Swiss Government does not provide immunity from prosecution for persons paying the withholding tax.

VAT: Alarms

Jason McCartney: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether his Department has made an assessment of the likely effect of exempting or reducing VAT on carbon monoxide alarms on (a) the number of households installing such an alarm and (b) spending by the NHS on carbon monoxide-related deaths and injuries.

David Gauke: There are no provisions under EU VAT law which would allow for an exemption or a reduced rate of VAT on the sale of carbon monoxide alarms. Under EU VAT law, the UK (or other EU countries) cannot extend the scope of existing zero rates or introduce new ones.

HOUSE OF COMMONS COMMISSION

Recycling

Luciana Berger: To ask the hon. Member for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross, representing the House of Commons Commission, what recycling facilities are available on the Parliamentary Estate.

John Thurso: Recycling facilities are available across the parliamentary estate for the following:
	Paper/cardboard
	Glass
	Plastic bottles
	Cans
	Batteries
	Facilities are also available for the collection and recycling of catering waste (including food), unwanted office files and binders, printer and photocopier toner cartridges, batteries, television monitors, refrigerators, small electronic equipment and computer hardware. The PED (Parliamentary Estates Directorate) Help Desk (x4747) can arrange for the recycling of these items. In addition, wood, metal, cooking oil, light fittings and fluorescent and sodium lamps from the Estate are collected for recycling.
	If the hon. Member has further questions, the Director General, Facilities would be happy to discuss these with her.

Sickness Absence

Chris Ruane: To ask the hon. Member for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross, representing the House of Commons Commission, pursuant to the answer of 12 November 2012, Official Report, columns 17-8W, on sick leave, what assessment he has made of the difference in the proportion of working days lost due to ill health between officers at SCS grade and at catering grade; and what assessment he has made of the use of mindfulness-based therapies in reducing the proportion of working days lost in the House of Commons Service.

John Thurso: Sickness absence figures are regularly reviewed by the Management Board, and benchmarked against sickness absence levels in other organisations. Sickness absence rates within the House of Commons Service are lower than in many public sector organisations and reflect nationwide trends. Manual workers have higher rates of long term sickness than non-manual workers, and sickness absence generally reduces as salary increases.
	All staff have access to a full range of welfare and occupational health services through the Safety, Health, and Wellbeing Service. Active use of these services, including early and targeted referrals, has contributed to an overall reduction in sickness absence levels over the past five years. While the House Service does not currently use mindfulness-based therapies, a range of interventions, including cognitive behaviour therapy, are used to help improve the well being of employees in appropriate cases.

TRANSPORT

Bus Partnership Forum

Ian Mearns: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport pursuant to the answer of 22 November 2012, Official Report, columns 535-6W, on bus services, when he expects (a) the next Bus Partnership Forum and (b) the first meeting of the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) forum for discussions of bus partnership working to take place; whether the OFT forum will feature discussion of the employment implications of partnership working; and if trade unions representing the bus workforce will be invited to attend and participate in the OFT forum.

Norman Baker: The next Bus Partnership Forum is scheduled for Wednesday 30 January. The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) advised earlier this year in its initial response to the Competition Commission's recommendations that it was open to holding forum meetings with Local Transport Authorities, but it has not yet formally accepted this recommendation. Any bus forum that the OFT might establish would be limited to the consideration of competition issues only. Attendees would be a matter for OFT.

Bus Services: South West

Alison Seabeck: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what recent estimate he has made of spending per head of population on bus transport in (a) Plymouth, (b) Devon, (c) Cornwall and (d) the South West; and what the national average of such spending is.

Norman Baker: The most recent data available for total public expenditure on transport is given in HM Treasury's Public Expenditure Statistical Analyses (PESA) for 2011/12. This reports that identifiable expenditure on local public transport per head in 2011/12 was £22 for the South West of England, and £56 for the whole of the UK. Equivalent data is not available below regional level.
	The “local public transport” PESA category includes bus expenditure but may also include expenditure on other transport modes. It does not, however, include the cost of the free bus travel concession for older and disabled people.
	Separately, data on local government bus expenditure is available from the Department for Communities and Local Government, at individual local authority level. The most recent figures available are for 2011-12 and show that spending per head on bus transport was £8 for Plymouth, £7 for Devon, £8 for Cornwall and £10 for the South West of England. A UK figure is not available.
	The local government figures include net current expenditure on support to operators for bus services and capital expenditure for ‘public passenger transport—bus’ but do not include expenditure on concessionary fares, home to school transport or public transport co-ordination (which may include bus-related expenditure). These figures will not be wholly consistent with the PESA data shown above as there is additional bus expenditure by central government (e.g. the Bus Service Operators' Grant) which cannot be disaggregated to local authority level.

High Speed 2 Railway Line

Cheryl Gillan: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport pursuant to the answer of 4 December 2012, Official Report, column 684W, on the High Speed 2 railway line, if he will specify the date when HS2 Ltd plans to publish its report on applications to the Exceptional Hardship Scheme containing the number of offers received in relation to the number of successful applications.

Simon Burns: HS2 Ltd routinely publishes a monthly report on the Exceptional Hardship Scheme at:
	http://www.hs2.org.uk/property
	The information on applications as of 1 December 2012 is set out as follows:
	
		
			  Applications to date* 
			 Number of applications received 409 
			 Number of applications which are reapplications 107 
			 Number of applications withdrawn by the applicants 10 
			 Average time in weeks for a decision under the final panel (excluding waiting time for additional documentation requested by the Secretariat) 6.99 
			 Number of applications accepted under the EHS 94 
			 Number of applications rejected under the EHS 281 
			 Number of applications pending a decision 24 
			 Number of formal offers accepted by applicants 79 
			 Number of purchases which have completed 63 
			 Number of properties, rented out 49 
			 Total value of those properties where the purchase is completed £37,554,324 
			 * 1 December 2012. 
		
	
	I will also shortly be writing to the right hon. Lady with the information that she requested on how many applications have been made to the Exceptional Hardship Scheme where no offers have been received; and what the average time was such properties had been on the market at the time of the application for (a) successful and (b) rejected applications.

High Speed 2 Railway Line

Cheryl Gillan: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what the (a) gross and (b) net estimated expenditures are for (i) the safeguarding zone and (ii) the voluntary purchase zone as part of the proposed compensation scheme for HS2.

Simon Burns: The proposed compensation schemes are currently out for consultation. The costs will depend on what scheme the Government adopt following consultation and the extent to which householders and others take up options open to them.

Level Crossings

Maria Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what inspection regime his Department recommends to Network Rail for (a) level crossing warning lights and (b) general safety at level crossings.

Simon Burns: The inspection regime for level crossings is a matter for Network Rail.

Official Hospitality

Andrew Gwynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how much his Department has spent for hospitality purposes on (a) Champagne, (b) wines, (c) spirits, (d) soft drinks, (e) flowers, (f) laundry, (g) porterage, (h) china, (i) cutlery and (j) venue hire since May 2010.

Norman Baker: Hospitality is appropriate only exceptionally, where there are external visitors. The central department is unable to provide information on how much has been spent on the requested categories, if any, as data is not collected at this level of detail. It is not required for our statutory reporting and it could only be obtained at disproportionate cost. Since 12 May 2010, no alcohol has been purchased for use within the Department's headquarters building, except paid for by DFT staff, or Ministers.
	The requested information for agencies is provided below.
	
		
			 £s Driving Standards Agency Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency Highways Agency Maritime and Coastguard Agency(1) Vehicle Certification Agency Vehicle and Operator Services Agency(2) 
			 Champagne 0 0 0 0 0 n/a 
			 Wines 0 0 0 0 0 n/a 
			 Spirits 0 0 0 0 0 n/a 
			 Soft Drinks 0 0 0 32 0 n/a 
			 Flowers 0 0 0 0 0 n/a 
			 Laundry 0 0 0 0 0 n/a 
			 Porterage 0 0 0 0 0 n/a 
			 China 0 0 0 0 0 n/a 
			 Cutlery 0 0 0 0 0 n/a 
			 Venue Hire 0 0 0 5,750 0 n/a 
			 Notes: 1. MCA Venue hire to host UN International Maritime Organisation in London for two years. 2. VOSA is unable to provide individual costs as they are all recorded under travel and subsistence.

Pay

Dominic Raab: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many employees in his Department were paid (a) between £80,000 and £100,000 per year and (b) in excess of £100,000 per year in each of the last five years.

Norman Baker: The number of employees in the Department for Transport who were paid between £80,000 and £100,000 per year and in excess of £100,000 per year in each of the last 5 years is shown in the table below.
	
		
			  2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 
			 £80,000-£100,00 39 57 69 67 63 
			 >£100,000 33 38 47 33 30

Railways: Broadband

Gordon Henderson: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will undertake a review of internet access and mobile telephone reception on the rail network.

Simon Burns: The Government have been working with the rail and telecommunications industries to maximise the quality of mobile communications for rail passengers across the national network.
	The emerging strategy will involve the installation of signal-enhancing equipment on-board trains while improving trackside coverage to reduce the number of areas where mobile coverage is weak or non-existent. Implementation would be through joint working between Network Rail, train and mobile network operators, rolling stock companies, Ofcom and the Office of Rail Regulation.
	The Government will continue to act in a co-ordinated manner and, if necessary, intervene to support industry to make rapid progress.

Railways: Franchises

John McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport whether it is a requirement that bidders for railway franchises must ensure that directly employed staff and staff on outsourced contracts are paid the (a) London living wage as defined by the GLA Living Wage Unit or (b) living wage as defined by the Centre for Research in Social Policy.

Simon Burns: The Department does not specify the terms and conditions for staff who work for train operating companies in franchise agreements. These terms are a matter for train operators and are negotiated with relevant trade unions.

Severn River Crossing

Jessica Morden: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport when he expects the Severn river crossings to pass into Government ownership.

Stephen Hammond: The Severn crossings are run by a private concessionaire, Severn River Crossings plc (SRC). The concession is currently forecast to end in 2018.

ENVIRONMENT FOOD AND RURAL AFFAIRS

Agriculture: Subsidies

Alex Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what assessment he has made of the recent performance of the Rural Payments Agency in making Common Agricultural Policy Single Payment Scheme payments to farmers during the first week of the payment window.

David Heath: I refer the hon. Member to my written statement of 6 December 2012, Official Report, columns 76-77WS.

Animals: Exports

Huw Irranca-Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs 
	(1)  if he will make it his policy that any port used for the transport of live animals for export should be regarded as a staging point in accordance with EU Council Regulations;
	(2)  what the basic requirements are for any staging point to ensure adequate animal welfare provision in the live transit of animals;
	(3)  if he will make an assessment of whether Ramsgate and Thanet ports satisfy the minimum requirement for staging points referred to in EU Council Regulations on the live export of animals.

David Heath: In EU legislation, the term ‘staging points’ has been replaced by ‘control posts’. There is no legal requirement for ports to become control posts in either EU or domestic welfare in transport legislation and therefore no assessment has been made of their suitability. Council Regulation (EC) 1255/97 lays down the legal requirements for the establishment and use of control posts. These are privately run facilities which are approved and monitored by the Animal Health and Veterinary Laboratories Agency.

Cattle: Animal Welfare

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many routine planned welfare inspections were carried out on cattle in (a) total in England and Wales and (b) each region in (i) 2010-11 and (ii) 2011-12; and if he will make a statement.

David Heath: The following table represents the numbers of routine welfare inspections on cattle for 2010-11 and 2011-12. AHVLA introduced a risk-assessed approach to inspections from 2011 onwards, which is reflected in the figures.
	
		
			 Region Grand total 
			 2010-11 financial year  
			 East Midlands 121 
			 North East 92 
			 North West 211 
			 South East 165 
			 South West 1,273 
			 West Midlands 263 
			 Yorks and Humber 205 
			 England total 2,330 
			 South Wales 145 
			 North Wales 133 
			 Wales total 278 
			 Grand total 2,608 
			   
			 2011-12 financial year  
			 East Midlands 40 
			 North East 21 
		
	
	
		
			 North West 136 
			 South East' 70 
			 South West 1,029 
			 West Midlands 84 
			 Yorks and Humber 72 
			 England total 1,452 
			 South Wales 130 
			 North Wales 61 
			 Wales total 191 
			 Grand total 1,643

Flood Control

Mary Creagh: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how much funding his Department allocated for property level flood protection measures in (a) 2008-09, (b) 2009-10, (c) 2010-11 and (d) 2011-12; and how much he plans to allocate to such measures in each of the next three years.

Richard Benyon: The following table summarises the yearly total expenditure of flood and coastal risk management grant in aid on property level flood protection measures:
	
		
			 Financial year Spend (£ million) 
			 2008-09 0 
			 2009-10 3.0 
			 2010-11 2.6 
			 2011-12 3.4 
		
	
	In this financial year (2012-13) we provisionally expect to spend £0.6 million under the DEFRA partnership funding approach.
	Since 2011, property level protection has been available as part of a range of measures that can be funded through the partnership funding approach and local levy. These awards are made on the basis of outcomes and value for money.
	Partnership funding has so far brought forward a sum of £72 million in external co-funding during this year and for the next two years. During the three years before partnership funding was introduced a total of £13 million was secured. As part of the current investment planning round, the £72 million figure is expected to increase further.
	DEFRA has also recently launched a Flood Resilience Community Pathfinder scheme with a total budget of £5 million to support innovative community action to improve resilience. The projects funded under this scheme may include an element of capital funding, including property level protection measures, but would need to demonstrate additional forms of innovation beyond simply supplying equipment.

FOREIGN AND COMMONWEALTH AFFAIRS

British Indian Ocean Territory

Jeremy Corbyn: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs pursuant to the answer of 8 November 2012, on British Indian Ocean Territory, whether he accepts the recent decision of the Information Commissioner that his Department is the relevant public authority for the purposes of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and environmental information regulations in respect of British Indian Ocean Territory.

Mark Simmonds: The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, accepts the Information Commissioner's recent decision whereby the Information Commissioner's Office accepts that the British Indian Ocean Territory is constitutionally separate and therefore not subject to the Freedom of Information Act (2000) or the Environmental Information Regulations (2004). However, the Secretary of State also accepts that British Indian Ocean Territory Administration information stored on the Foreign and Commonwealth Office systems in London is subject to the Freedom of Information Act and the Environment Information Regulations.

Colombia

Andrew Love: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make representations to the Colombian government on the need for them to ensure the safety of (a) members of the mass movement known as the Patriotic March and (b) other people and organisations in civil society who are receiving death threats or being killed; and if he will make a statement.

Hugo Swire: We are concerned about reports of threats and violence against members of civil society in Colombia. We regularly raise our concerns with the Colombian Government and urge them to provide greater protection for human rights defenders and their families, to reduce the length of time taken to investigate murders and forced disappearances, and to work with unions and employee organisations to strengthen labour relations in Colombia. We have made specific representations on the threats against Patriotic March members including Carlos Lozano, Fredy Chate, Gerardo Martinez and Gustavo Londono.
	Our embassy in Bogota has implemented a high-profile programme of activities to support human rights defenders under threat, including a project to increase their awareness of the protection measures available and meetings with threatened organisations to demonstrate UK support. In a joint statement on human rights in November 2011, both the Prime Minister and President Santos condemned violence against human rights defenders and emphasised their support for the work they do.

Colombia

Andrew Love: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make representations to the Colombian government on the need to ensure the safety of Congressman Ivan Cepeda who has received death threats arising from his work for Colombians for Peace; and if he will make a statement.

Hugo Swire: We are concerned about reports of a threat made against Congressman Ivan Cepeda, who is an active human rights defender representing the organisations Movimiento Nacional de Victimas de Crímenes de Estado (MOVICE) and Colombians for Peace. Any threat made against the life of a human rights defender is unacceptable. Our embassy in Bogota will raise this case with the Colombian Government.
	Our embassy has implemented a high-profile programme of activities to support human rights defenders under threat, including a project to increase their awareness of the protection measures available and meetings with threatened organisations to demonstrate UK support. In a joint statement on human rights in November 2011, both the Prime Minister and President Santos condemned violence against human rights defenders and emphasised their support for the work they do.

Consultants

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many full-time equivalent staff were employed on consultancy contracts in his Department on the latest date for which figures are available; how many such staff were employed on the same date 12 months ago; and if he will make a statement.

David Lidington: As the recruitment of consultants is devolved to individual departments and posts within the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, we do not have central records of such contracts and could obtain this only at a disproportionate cost.

Council of Ministers

Brian Binley: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs on how many occasions EU meetings at ministerial level have taken place where the UK has been represented solely by an official of the UK Representation in each of the last three years; and if he will make a statement.

David Lidington: The Foreign and Commonwealth Office, and the Government, do not maintain a collated record of the information requested.
	However, a written ministerial statement which indicates the UK's representation is deposited with Parliament to report on every ministerial EU council meeting.

Democratic Republic of Congo

Tom Blenkinsop: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what his policy is on the appointment of a joint United Nations and African Union envoy to assist in reaching a resolution to the situation in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.

Mark Simmonds: We have encouraged the UN Secretary-General to appoint a Special Representative, through the UN Security Council Resolution 2076 and through the EU Council conclusions of 10 December. This should be part of the response to the current crisis in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, with a view to establishing long term stability there. The African Union has appointed Boubacar Gaoussou Diana as their Special Representative for the Great Lakes Region.

Egypt

Douglas Alexander: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what discussions (a) he and (b) his Ministerial colleagues had with Egyptian officials in advance of Egypt successfully brokering a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.

William Hague: The UK worked intensively to support the Egyptians in their facilitation of negotiations. This included conversations between the Prime Minister and President Mursi and also between myself and my counterpart, the Egyptian Foreign Minister Mohammed Kamel Amr.

Egypt

Douglas Alexander: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what assessment he has made of (a) Egypt's progress towards agreeing a new constitution and (b) the likely date by which such a constitution will be agreed.

William Hague: The referendum on the constitution is planned for 15 December.
	On 5 December I expressed my concern about reports of violent clashes over the constitution and referendum, and urged all sides to show restraint. We are encouraging all parties to resolve their differences through a process of dialogue which allows all voices to be heard, and look to the Egyptian authorities to make progress on the transition in an inclusive manner.

European Council

Brian Binley: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what steps he is taking to draw the attention of relevant parliamentary committees to European Council A points in advance of them being signed off; what plans he has to publish agenda issues in advance of Council meetings; and if he will make a statement.

David Lidington: Various formations of the Council of the European Union, such as the Foreign Affairs Council and General Affairs Council, have items on their agenda presented as “A points” (items that do not require a discussion) and “B points” (items which require a discussion). Matters which are subject to parliamentary scrutiny are subject to the same scrutiny commitments irrespective of whether they are presented to Council formations as an A or B point, and I would like to reiterate here the importance that this Government places on the scrutiny role that Parliament plays.
	The European Council meeting of Heads of State and Government does not have matters placed on its agenda as A and B points. The European Council agrees conclusions which are discussed and agreed unanimously.
	The agendas for European Councils are publicly available in advance of meetings on the European Council website.

European Union

Brian Binley: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent progress has been made on the audit of the (a) competences and (b) membership costs of the EU; and if he will make a statement.

David Lidington: The balance of competences review is on schedule. The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, (Mr Hague), updated the House on 23 October 2012, Official Report, column 46WS, about the timetable and sequencing of reports over the next two years. Calls for evidence for all six reports in the first semester (concluding in summer 2013) have since been published and can be found through the Foreign and Commonwealth Office website
	http://www.fco.gov.uk/eu/balance-of-competences
	We expect that evidence submitted to the review will provide information about the costs of different areas of EU action.

ICT: Theft

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many (a) computers, (b) mobile telephones, (c) BlackBerrys and (d) other pieces of IT equipment were lost or stolen from his Department in (i) 2010-11 and (ii) 2011-12; and if he will make a statement.

David Lidington: Official items lost, stolen or damaged are all recorded as "losses". Information is only available for the period since August 2010 without incurring disproportionate cost. Prior to this date, the information was not held centrally.
	In 2010-11, 28 computers, including laptops were recorded as losses. 12 of these were in the UK and the other 16 were at one of our 260 posts overseas. In the same period 37 BlackBerrys were recorded as losses. 15 of these were in the UK and the other 22 were at one of our posts overseas.
	In 2011-12, seven computers, including laptops were recorded as losses. Six of these were in the UK and one was lost at a post overseas. In the same period 35 BlackBerrys were recorded as losses. 10 of these were in the UK and the other 25 were lost at one of our posts overseas.
	Information on the number of mobile telephones (separate from BlackBerry devices) lost is not held centrally and can be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
	The Foreign and Commonwealth Office takes its responsibilities for protecting information assets seriously and complies with mandatory requirements of the Security Policy Framework, which includes the implementation of security incident management procedures to ensure losses are dealt with appropriately.

Ilois: Resettlement

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how much his Department has spent on contesting the Chagossian right to return to the British Indian Ocean Territory since 1999.

Mark Simmonds: Legal costs incurred by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in defending cases on the Chagossian right to return to the British Indian Ocean Territory since 1998 total £1.956.408.56. These costs relate to the following cases:
	1. R (Bancoult) v. Secretary of Stale for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (No 1):
	2. R (Bancoult) v. Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (No 2);
	3. Chagos Islanders v. the Attorney General; and
	4. Chagos Islanders v. United Kingdom.

ICT: Expenditure

Andrew Gwynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how much has been spent on (a) strategy and planning, (b) design and build, (c) hosting and infrastructure, (d) content provision and (e) testing and evaluation for his Department's websites in each of the last two years; and how much has been allocated for each such category of expenditure in 2012-13.

David Lidington: The infrastructure and hosting costs for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) websites were as follows.
	In 2010-11 £1,458,935 and in 2011-12 £1,473,742. The budget allocated to these costs in 2012/13 is £1,488,032.
	These costs are determined by a contract signed in February 2007.
	The costs cover 250 websites globally which are visited by around 11 million people a year and play a critical role in promoting the UK's foreign policy objectives and providing travel advice and consular information for British nationals overseas.
	In addition we designed and built a number of micro sites to host our annual human rights report, overseas territories White Paper consultation and our blogs website, to enable people to comment.
	These costs were £6,555 in 2010-11, £28,393 in 2011-12 and year to date spend in 2012-13 £5,000 on blog platform support costs.
	The cost of strategy, planning, content provision and the evaluation of the FCO's websites is one of staff time.
	The following table shows the costs of staff in London and overseas who manage the FCO's digital presence. The UK-based staff budget for 2012-13 includes an increase of £65,000 to manage the Government Digital Service transition project. That project will lead to a saving of around £1.5 million a year as we move our websites to the new single Government website, GOV.UK by March 2013.
	In addition, each of our overseas missions has a web editor responsible for the mission website(s)—this varies from full-time to 5% to 10% of a person's time in some missions.
	
		
			 (£000) 
			  Spend Budget 
			 Description 2010-11 2011-12 2012-13 
			 UK-based staff 787 746 556 
			 Overseas-based staff 258 241 310 
		
	
	
		
			 GDS transition contractor costs — — 100 
			 Total salary costs/allocation 1045 987 966

Israel

Jeremy Corbyn: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether his Department is party to any agreements concerning representatives of the Israeli government and international airlines.

Alistair Burt: No, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office is not party to any agreements concerning representatives of the Israeli Government and international airlines.
	There is an Agreement in place between the European Community and the State of Israel on certain aspects of air services which came into force on 4 November 2009. A further "Open Skies" agreement was signed by the EU and Israel in July 2012 but has yet to be ratified.

Nobel Prize

Brian Binley: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether he has met representatives of the Nobel Peace Prize Award Committee in an official capacity; and if he will make a statement.

David Lidington: The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right hon. Friend the Member for Richmond (Yorks) (Mr Hague), has not met with representatives of the Nobel Committee in an official capacity.

Norway

Richard Burden: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether he has had discussions with his Norwegian counterpart following the Norwegian government's decision to exclude the organisation Karmel-instituttet from eligibility for tax relief.

David Lidington: No discussions have taken place with the Norwegian Government on this matter.

Pay

Andrew Gwynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how much was paid in (a) year end and (b) in-year bonuses to officials in his Department in each of the last two years.

Alistair Burt: The Foreign and Commonwealth Office paid the following amounts in performance related pay (bonuses):
	2010-11
	Year end—£5,932,379
	In year—£485,504
	2011-12
	Year end—£5,564,554
	In year—£676,975
	Year end performance related payments reflect the previous years performance as measured by the annual appraisal process. In year performance related payments reflect outstanding achievement either by an individual or team and are only payable to staff in grades below the senior civil service.

Pitcairn Islands

Zac Goldsmith: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent assessment he has made of the potential merits of establishing a marine protected area at Pitcairn Island.

Mark Simmonds: I refer my hon. Friend to my answer to the hon. Member for Bristol East (Kerry McCarthy) of 4 December 2012, Official Report, column 754W.

Senior Civil Servants

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many and what proportion of senior civil servants have left (a) his Department and (b) each of the public bodies for which he is responsible since May 2010; what the rate of turnover of senior civil servants has been in (i) his Department and (ii) each such body since May 2010; and if he will make a statement.

Alistair Burt: There are currently 403 senior civil servants in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO).
	The number and proportion of senior civil servants leaving the FCO since May 2010 is as follows:
	During the financial year 2010-11: 56 senior civil servants left the FCO.
	During the financial year 2011-12: 44 senior civil servants left the FCO.
	From 1 April to 30 November 2012: seven senior civil servants have left the FCO.
	During the financial year 2010-11: one senior civil servant left FCO Services.
	During financial year 2011-12: one senior civil servant left FCO Services.
	No senior civil servants have left FCO Services this financial year.
	The British Council do not have senior civil servants but have 56 staff of the equivalent grade.
	During 2010-11 financial year: eight senior staff left the British Council.
	During 2011-12 financial year: five senior staff left the British Council.
	From 1 April to 30 November 2012: four senior staff have left the British Council.
	No senior civil servants have left Wilton Park during this period.
	The turnover rate for senior civil servants in the FCO is as follows:
	Financial year 2010/-11: 14%
	Financial year 2011-12: 11%
	Financial year 2012-13 to date: 1.7%
	The turnover rate for senior civil servants in FCO Services is as follows:
	Financial year 2010-11: 13%.
	Financial year 2011-12: 14%.
	The turnover rate for senior staff in the British Council is as follows:
	Financial year 2010-11: 14%.
	Financial year 2011-12: 11%.
	Financial year 2012-13 to date: 7%.

Staff Surveys

Andrew Gwynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will place in the Library a copy of the results of his Department's most recent staff survey; which organisation carried out the survey; and what the cost of the survey was.

David Lidington: A copy of the results of the October 2012 Department’s staff survey will be placed in the Library in January 2013. The results will similarly be published publicly on the Department's website at that time:
	http://www.fco.gov.uk/en/
	The survey was carried out by ORC International Ltd as part of the Civil Service People Survey, which is carried out across a number of civil service organisations, co-ordinated by the Cabinet Office.
	The cost of the survey was £54,696 and encompassed surveys for three organisations including: the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO), FCO Services and Wilton Park. The costs cover the annual set-up and management of the survey, translations and the inclusion of FCO specific questions.

Western Sahara

Paul Flynn: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs pursuant to the answer of 26 November 2012, Official Report, column 103W, on Western Sahara, if he will ask (a) MINURSO and (b) Moroccan officials how many Moroccan soldiers are stationed in the non-self-governing territory of Western Sahara; and where such soldiers are stationed.

Alistair Burt: As mentioned in the answer of 26 November 2012, we do not hold this information. We maintain regular contact with Moroccan officials, MINURSO and other interlocutors on Western Sahara, in support of the UN-led efforts to encourage Morocco and the Polisario Front to agree a long-lasting and mutually-acceptable political solution that provides for the self-determination of the people of Western Sahara. Details of Moroccan forces in Western Sahara have not been shared as part of that process.

HOME DEPARTMENT

Abu Qatada

George Howarth: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the cost to the police has been of dealing with the case of Abu Qatada.

James Brokenshire: It is longstanding Government practice not to comment on operational matters relating to an individual.

Abu Qatada

George Howarth: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what steps she plans to take to limit the award Abu Qatada is seeking.

James Brokenshire: The Secretary of State’s solicitors have not received any claim for financial compensation from Abu Qatada, and neither has there been any suggestion by the courts that the Secretary of State has acted unlawfully such as would give grounds for a claim. We would argue very strongly against any such claim if one were to be received in the future.

Animal Experiments

Fiona Bruce: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department under what circumstances Regulations 5, 22, 10 (2) (Schedule 2C, Part 3, paragraph 17) or Regulation 42 (Schedule 3, Part 4, paragraph 2) of The Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 Draft Amendment Regulations 2012 could be used to prefer or require research involving human eggs, human embryos, human admixed embryos or human foetuses over research using animal eggs, or animal or (non human admixed) human-animal chimeric or hybrid embryos or foetuses.

James Brokenshire: European Directive 2010/63/EU on the protection of animals used for scientific purposes is to be implemented in the United Kingdom and other member states from 1 January 2013. The regulations to transpose Directive 2010/63/EU have now been laid in Parliament. Article 4 (1) of the new directive states that member states shall ensure that, wherever possible, a scientifically satisfactory method or testing strategy, not entailing the use of live animals, shall be used instead of a procedure.
	The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990 (as amended) makes it clear that regulation of embryos that are either entirely or predominantly human or a mix of human and animal (“human admixed embryos”) is within the remit of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA). Research using human eggs, human embryos, human or admixed embryos would therefore require licence authority from the HFEA.
	The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990 (as amended) makes it clear that research using embryos that are either entirely or predominantly human or a mix of human and animal (all of which fall under the definition of “human admixed embryos”) is within the regulatory remit of the HFEA.
	The HFEA grants research licences based on an assessment by an HFEA Committee about the necessity and desirability of the research for defined purposes (Section 3A(1)(c) of Schedule 2 of HFE Act 1990 (as amended). This is a decision based on the scientific merits of carrying out research on human embryos.
	Some research involving certain types of human admixed embryos may require approval under both the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990 and the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986. Applications would undergo detailed scrutiny and may be refused at the end of the process.

Communications Data Bill (Draft)

Cathy Jamieson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many representations her Department has received on the draft Communications Data Bill from (a) Scotland and (b) the UK.

James Brokenshire: In the Queen’s Speech on 9 May the Government announced their intention to bring forward a draft Bill for pre-legislative scrutiny, containing measures to maintain the ability of the law enforcement and intelligence agencies to access vital communications data under strict safeguards while ensuring that the use of communications data are compatible with the Government's approach to civil liberties.
	Since publication of the draft Bill the Home Office has received 239 pieces of correspondence from Members of Parliament and the public in the UK. We are unable to break this figure down further to parts of the UK.

Conditions of Employment

Ann McKechin: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what proportion of civil servants in her Department have requested (a) part-time, (b) job-share or (c) other flexible working arrangements in each of the last five years; and how many such requests were granted.

James Brokenshire: holding answer 10 December 2012
	The Home Office does not hold information centrally on the number of employees who have requested part-time working arrangements, but does hold information on those who have been granted part-time working arrangements. This is provided in the following table.
	The Home Office does not hold information centrally on the number of employees who have requested or been granted (b) job-share or (c) other flexible working arrangements. To provide this information would incur a disproportionate cost.
	
		
			 Proportion of employees working part-time 2008-09 to 2011-12 
			  Percentage of employees working part-time 
			 2008-09 19.51 
			 2009-10 20.09 
			 2010-11 19.38 
			 2011-12 19.54 
			 Note: The data included refer to Home Office headquarters and the executive agencies, and include all current, paid civil servants as at 31 March each year. As Data View was introduced in June 2008 we are only able to provide information for the last four financial years. Data source: Data View, the Home Office’s single source of Office for National Statistics compliant corporate monthly Human Resources data, introduced in June 2008. Extract dates: 1 April 2009, 1 April 2010, 1 April 2011, 1 April 2012

Counter-terrorism

Brian Binley: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment she has made of measures in the EU's Radicalisation and Recruitment Action Plan (a) prohibited within the UK and (b) encouraged within the UK by the EU; and if she will make a statement.

James Brokenshire: The EU’s Radicalisation and Recruitment Action Plan was established in 2005, and revised in 2007. The EU encourages the implementation of all measures of the action plan in all member states, including the UK.
	The principles of the EU’s Radicalisation and Recruitment Action Plan are consistent with the UK’s Prevent strategy.

DNA

David Ruffley: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many DNA samples were taken from people (a) charged and (b) cautioned in (i) each police area and (ii) total in each of the last three years; and if she will make a statement.

James Brokenshire: The information is not held centrally.

European Investigation Order

Brian Binley: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what involvement her Department has had in the development of a European investigation order; and if she will make a statement.

James Brokenshire: The UK opted into European Investigation Order (EIO) negotiations in July 2010. A General Approach was agreed at the Justice and Home Affairs (JHA) Council in December 2011, the European Parliament adopted amendments in May 2012, and trilogue discussions began in November. The Home Office has been actively involved in negotiations and the EIO remains subject to parliamentary scrutiny.

ICT: Theft

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many (a) computers, (b) mobile telephones, (c) BlackBerrys and (d) other pieces of IT equipment were lost or stolen from her Department in (i) 2010-11 and (ii) 2011-12; and if she will make a statement.

James Brokenshire: The Secretary of State for the Home Department, can confirm that information relating to lost and stolen laptops, mobiles and removable media can be found on the following link to the Home Office webpage:
	http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/publications/about-us/transparency/lost-mobiles-laptops-media/?view=Standard&pubID=890533
	Information is recorded and published under calendar year and not financial year. Information on items lost and stolen for 2012 will be published in early 2013.

Members: Correspondence

Gerald Kaufman: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when she plans to answer the letter sent to her by the right hon. Member for Manchester, Gorton on 26 October 2012 with regard to Mrs Olubukola al Oyenuga.

Mark Harper: I wrote to the right hon. Member on 11 December 2012.

Olympic Games 2012: Security

David Hanson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to the answer of 4 December 2012, Official Report, column 694W, on Olympic security, which forces had been reimbursed by 4 December 2012; by what date she expects all forces to be reimbursed; and whether interest payments will be made on any outstanding non-payment.

James Brokenshire: We have agreed with police forces that invoices for the provision of police officers to undertake Olympic venue security duties in place of G4S should be submitted by the end of the calendar year and that forces will be reimbursed by 8 February 2013.

Parking

Tom Greatrex: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department 
	(1)  what contracts for providing car park management services to her Department are held by private companies;
	(2)  what the total value is of contracts between her Department and private companies for car park management services in (a) the UK, (b) Scotland and (c) South Lanarkshire local authority area.

James Brokenshire: The Home Department and its Agencies do not hold any contracts with private companies for the provision of car park management services.

Pay

Dominic Raab: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many employees in her Department were paid in excess of (a) £80,000 and (b) £100,000 in each of the last five years.

James Brokenshire: holding answer 10 December 2012
	The information requested is provided in the following table.
	
		
			 As at 1 April each year Number of employees paid base salary in excess of £80,000 Number of employees paid a base salary of £100,000 or higher 
			 2012 87 36 
			 2011 73 28 
			 2010 66 24 
			 2009 47 18 
			 2008 36 14

Public Appointments

Michael Weir: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when her Department last assessed the (a) utility and (b) value of psychometric testing in its recruitment and selection of candidates for public appointments on advisory boards.

James Brokenshire: Psychometric testing is not widely used by the Home Office when making public appointments. The use and value of psychometric testing in the recruitment and selection of candidates for public appointments to advisory boards has not been assessed by the Department.

Public Appointments

Michael Weir: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what her Department's policy is on the payment of travel expenses to candidates in respect of their attendance at assessment centres and interviews when pursuing applications for selection to a public appointment.

James Brokenshire: Decisions about the payment of travel expenses are made on a campaign by campaign basis. It is the Home Office policy that when travel expenses are offered, that offer must be extended to all candidates.

Senior Civil Servants

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many and what proportion of senior civil servants have left (a) her Department and (b) each of the public bodies for which she is responsible since May 2010; what the rate of turnover of senior civil servants has been in (i) her Department and (ii) each such body since May 2010; and if she will make a statement.

James Brokenshire: Between 1 May 2010 and 31 October 2012, a total of 93 senior civil servants (SCS) have left the Department and its agencies. This number includes those who have permanently transferred to another Government Department. The rate of turnover of SCS staff for the same period May 2010 to October 2012 is 37.2%.
	Executive non-departmental public bodies (NDPBs) are independent of the Home Office. They are responsible for the employment of their own staff. This information cannot be provided as to do so would incur disproportionate cost.
	The Home Office Executive NDPBs are the National Policing Improvement Agency, Serious Organised Crime Agency, Office of the Immigration Services Commissioner, Security Industry Authority, Independent Safeguarding Authority (which was merged with the Criminal Records Bureau to become the Disclosure and Barring Service on 1 December 2012) and the Independent Police Complaints Commission. Advisory and Tribunal NDPBs do not employ staff but may be supported by a secretariat provided from the sponsoring Department.

Staff Surveys

Andrew Gwynne: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if she will place in the Library a copy of the results of her Department's most recent staff survey; which organisation carried out the survey; and what the cost of the survey was.

James Brokenshire: The 2012 Civil Service People Survey was run by the Cabinet Office using ORC International. The Home Office Corporate Report, the Home Office Headquarters, UK Border Agency, Border Force, Identity Passport Service and Criminal Records Bureau reports are expected to be published by the Cabinet Office on the following website on 1 February 2013:
	www.direct.gov.uk
	The cost of the survey will be approximately £56,000.

HEALTH

Abortion

Diane Abbott: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when he plans to publish his proposed consultation on the commissioning of termination of pregnancy services.

Anna Soubry: It is the Government's intention to carry out a consultation on the future arrangements for commissioning of termination of pregnancy services later in 2013. In particular, we want the new commissioning arrangements that take effect from April 2013 to have had an opportunity to become established to better inform responses to the consultation.

Abortion

Andrew Bingham: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  what plans he has to improve abortion counselling; and if he will make a statement;
	(2)  when he will publish his sexual health policy document; and whether it will contain plans for improving abortion counselling.

Anna Soubry: The Government consider the best way to meet the commitment to improve abortion counselling services for women is to look at wider issues on preventing unwanted and unplanned pregnancies and consider counselling requirements in this context. We will therefore set out our plans for improving abortion counselling in our sexual health policy document. We no longer plan to undertake a separate consultation on abortion counselling.

Accident and Emergency Departments: Greater London

Joan Ruddock: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what evidence his Department has considered which indicates that it is possible to transfer 30 per cent of the work of a full accident and emergency department to community services in inner London.

Anna Soubry: We have not considered any evidence in relation to this issue. As the right hon. Member will know, the independent Trust Special Administrator appointed to South London Healthcare NHS Trust is consulting on a draft report with initial recommendations about securing a sustainable future for services provided by the trust. He will make final recommendations to the Secretary of State for Health, my right hon. Friend the Member for South West Surrey (Mr Hunt), early in the new year.

Arthritis: Young People

Karen Lumley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what support his Department provides to young people with juvenile idiopathic arthritis and their families in accessing information about that condition.

Daniel Poulter: The Department funds NHS Choices which provides information for young people with juvenile idiopathic arthritis or their families on their condition, and access to sources of further information, such as that provided by Arthritis Care, and information on how to access treatment. The National Institute for Clinical Excellence issued new guidelines for the national health service in February 2012.

Care Homes: Leeds

Greg Mulholland: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many care homes have been deemed as failing to meet standard 15 of the national minimum standards in (a) Leeds North West constituency and (b) the Leeds metropolitan area in each year for which figures are available.

Norman Lamb: Care homes were inspected against the National Minimum Standards (NMS) until 2010 under the previous regulatory regime, under the Care Standards Act (CSA) 2000. From 1 October 2010, providers of adult social care services, including care homes, were required to register with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) under the Health and Social Care Act (HSCA) 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2010. At the same time, the NMS were replaced by the CQC's Essential Standards of Quality and Safety. NMS 15—Meals and Mealtimes—was replaced by Outcome 5 of the Essential Standards—Meeting nutritional needs.
	The CQC has provided the information in the tables. Table 1 shows every instance of a care home failing to meet NMS 15 under the CSA 2000 in the Leeds local authority area per fiscal year until 30 September 2010. Information is not available by parliamentary constituency area for this period.
	
		
			 Table 1: Leeds local authority area 
			 Fiscal year Instances(1) of care homes failing to meet NMS 15 
			 2002-03 23 
			 2003-04 27 
			 2004-05 20 
			 2005-06 25 
			 2006-07 17 
			 2007-08 15 
			 2008-09 13 
			 2009-10 10 
			 2010-11(2) 1 
			 Total 151 
			 (1) These are instances of care homes failing to meet the NMS, not necessarily total numbers of homes. (2) Due to providers registering under the HSCA from 1 October 2010, this covers 1 April 2010 to 30 September 2010 only. Source: CQC Database, 7 December 2012 
		
	
	To comply with Regulation 14 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2010 and meet Outcome 5—Meeting nutritional needs—of the Essential Standards, care providers must ensure that service users are protected from the risk of inadequate nutrition and dehydration. This is the regulation in the current legislation that aligns most closely with NMS 15.
	Table 2 shows every instance of non-compliance, from inspections that took place in each fiscal year, with Outcome 5 of the Essential Standards, for care home locations in Leeds local authority area, as at 7 December 2012 under the HSCA. We are informed by the CQC that it has not recorded any non-compliance against Outcome 5 at care home locations within the Leeds North West parliamentary constituency.
	
		
			 Table 2: Leeds local authority area 
			 Fiscal year Instances(1) of care homes failing to meet Essential Standards Outcome 5 
			 2010-11(2) 1 
			 2011-12 4 
			 2012-13 1 
			 Total 6(3) 
			 (1) These are instances of care homes failing to meet the Outcome, not necessarily total numbers of homes. (2) Due to providers registering under the HSCA from 1 October 2010, this covers 1 October 2010 to 31 March 2011 only. (3) Figures refer to services that are currently registered and those that may have since deregistered. Source: QC Database, 7 December 2012

Dental Services

Andrew Gwynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps he has taken to inform the public of dental practices which are taking on new NHS patients.

Daniel Poulter: Information on dental practices taking on new patients for national health service treatment is available nationally from NHS Direct and NHS Choices. Where appropriate, primary care trusts advertise new services locally as they open.
	The number of people accessing NHS dentistry has increased by over 1.1 million since May 2010.

Female Genital Mutilation

Karl Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what training (a) health professionals, (b) education professionals and (c) social care professionals receive in respect of female genital mutilation.

Anna Soubry: Guidance for health professionals is contained in the Multi-Agency Practice Guidelines on Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), published in 2011 by HM Government. Earlier this year, Ministers wrote to relevant Royal Colleges and national health service agencies asking them about their plans to raise awareness of FGM. The responses received are encouraging, and the overriding message from them all is clear—FGM is abhorrent and they are committed to playing their part in eradicating it.
	At the same time, the Department's Chief Medical Officer and Director of Nursing, with the support of the Royal Colleges, wrote to health professionals drawing their attention to the illegal nature of the FGM and to the multi-agency practice guidelines on FGM published last year.
	The Department for Education does not itself provide training on FGM. Schools should ensure that the head teacher, and all other staff who work with children, undertake training to equip them to carry out their responsibilities for child protection effectively. Guidance for schools is contained in the Multi-Agency Practice Guidelines on FGM, published in 2011 by HM Government.

Flowers

Andrew Gwynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much his Department has spent on (a) cut flowers and (b) pot plants in each year since May 2010.

Daniel Poulter: The Department spent a total of £12,383.80 on plants and trees in the period May 2010 to March 2011 for its core headquarters estate, but cannot separately identify any expenditure within that amount on cut flowers or pot plants. No specific expenditure has been incurred in the period from April 2011 to date.
	The Department has a Facilities Management contract with Emcor Facilities Services. Since April 2011, any expenditure on cut flowers or pot plants has been made directly by Emcor and is not reimbursed by the Department.

Health and Wellbeing Boards

Clive Betts: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the answer of 22 November 2012, Official Report, columns 577-8W, on Health and Wellbeing Boards, if he will place a copy of the consultation responses in the Library.

Norman Lamb: The Department undertook an informal engagement exercise from February to July this year to gather views from stakeholders on which elements of the current legislation for section 102 committees of local authorities should be disapplied, modified or retained in relation to health and wellbeing boards. As this was not a recognised Government consultation, a formal response was therefore not necessary.
	The Department did however produce ‘Summary of proposed content for technical regulations in respect of health and wellbeing boards’ which summarises what stakeholders said during the engagement period and what the Department intends to do with the regulations as a result. This document has been shared with key stakeholders and local authorities to support local preparations for health and wellbeing boards. A copy of the document has been placed in the Library.

Health Services: Older People

Chris Skidmore: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many over 65 year olds were admitted to hospital with a cold-related illness in each of the last 10 years.

Anna Soubry: The information is not held in the format requested. Annual estimates of the number of excess winter deaths are provided by the Office for National Statistics. The most recent set of statistics for England and Wales indicated that the majority of deaths occurred among those aged 75 and over; there were 19,500 excess winter deaths in this age group in 2011-12 in England and Wales compared with 4,500 in the under 75-year-olds. The “Cold Weather Plan for England 2012” sets out a series of clear actions to minimise the health impact of severe winter weather. A copy has been placed in the Library.

Health Services: Older People

Chris Skidmore: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many over 65 year olds were admitted to hospital with (a) malnutrition, (b) dehydration and (c) bed sores in each of the last five years; and how many such patients resided at a care home or residential home.

Norman Lamb: The tables show a count of finished admission episodes for patients aged 65 years and over with a primary diagnosis of malnutrition, dehydration or bed sores, by admission source, 2007-08 to 2011-12.
	This is not a count of patients as the same patient may be admitted more than once in a financial year. Some patients who live in nursing homes or residential care may have their source of admission recorded as ‘usual place of residence' but these cannot be separately identified.
	
		
			 Activity in English NHS hospitals and English NHS commissioned activity in the independent sector 
			 Malnutrition 
			 Source of admission 2007-08 2008-09 2009-10 2010-11 2011-12 
			 All finished admission episodes (FAEs) 162 178 182 203 284 
			 Usual place of residence including no fixed abode 144 168 162 176 255 
			 NHS run nursing home, residential care home or group home 2 — — 2 — 
			 Local authority Part 3 residential accommodation: where care is provided (from 1996-97) — — — — 1 
			 Non-NHS (other-than Local Authority) run residential care home (from 1996-97) 1 — — 1 1 
			 Other 14 9 19 24 27 
			 Unknown 1 1 1 — — 
		
	
	
		
			 Dehydration 
			 Source of admission 2007-08 2008-09 2009-10 2010-11 2011-12 
			 All finished admission episodes (FAEs) 6,943 7,355 7,889 8,680 8,417 
			 Usual place of residence including no fixed abode 6,321 6,611 7,118 7,876 7,717 
			 NHS run nursing home, residential care home or group home 43 55 47 43 34 
			 Local authority Part 3 residential accommodation: where care is provided (from 1996-97) 10 24 6 23 10 
			 Non-NHS (other than Local Authority) run residential care home (from 1996-97) 110 132 117 117 124 
			 Other 450 529 596 610 528 
			 Unknown 9 4 5 11 4 
		
	
	
		
			 Bed sores 
			 Source of admission 2007-08 2008-09 2009-10 2010-11 2011-12 
			 All finished admission episodes (FAEs) 1,345 1,407 1,514 1,572 1,594 
			 Usual place of residence including no fixed abode 1,131 1,174 1,224 1,293 1,328 
			 NHS run nursing home, residential care home or group home 7 6 10 11 4 
			 Local authority Part 3 residential accommodation: where care is provided (from 1996-97) 3 3 2 5 6 
			 Non-NHS (other than Local Authority) run residential care home (from 1996-97) 24 16 21 17 20 
			 Other 172 208 255 245 234 
			 Unknown 8 — 2 1 2

Health Services: Older People

Andrew Gwynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what recent estimate he has made of the cost of unnecessary hospital admissions and adequate levels of social services care for the elderly.

Norman Lamb: Information on the cost of unnecessary hospital admissions and adequate levels of social services care for the elderly is not collected centrally.

Heart Diseases

Diane Abbott: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the timetable is for the development and publication of the quality standard for atrial fibrillation; and if he will make a statement.

Norman Lamb: We have asked the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) to develop a Quality Standard on atrial fibrillation as part of a library of approximately 180 NHS Quality Standards. NICE has not yet published a timescale for the development of this Quality Standard.
	The NHS Commissioning Board who will be responsible for the strategic direction of NHS Quality Standards from April 2013, has begun discussions with NICE to determine the most appropriate sequencing for NHS Quality Standards to assist the board in improving patient outcomes across the five domains of the NHS Outcomes Framework.

Heart Diseases

Diane Abbott: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  what guidance he plans to provide to (a) cardiovascular networks and (b) clinical commissioning groups on services for people with atrial fibrillation; and if he will make a statement;
	(2)  what consideration he has given to introducing a patient experience survey for people with (a) atrial fibrillation and (b) cardiovascular disease; and if he will make a statement;
	(3)  what assessment he has made of the experience of people with atrial fibrillation; and if he will make a statement.

Anna Soubry: The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) is currently updating the existing clinical guidance on atrial fibrillation (AF) and plans to publish a quality standard on AF with the revised guidance in 2014. NICE is also in the process of updating the commissioning guidance on anticoagulation therapy services to take account of its recent guidance on the new oral anticoagulants, dabigatran and rivaroxaban; it aims to publish this update in April 2013.
	NHS Improvement is continuing to work with the cardiovascular networks and other key partners to provide advice and guidance on atrial fibrillation in stroke prevention to existing commissioners and the emerging clinical commissioning groups. This work includes the continued development and roll out of a simple audit tool to general practices in England. Currently the tool is being run in 2,307 general practitioner practices (28% of practices) across the country.
	NHS Improvement is continuing to work with the Atrial Fibrillation Association (AFA), an international charity that provides information, support and access for both patients and clinicians. Both the AFA and another major United Kingdom-based charity, Anticoagulation Europe, play a major role in capturing patient experience and supporting people with AF.
	As part of the development of the cardiovascular disease (CVD) outcomes strategy, there has been a series of engagement events, which have encouraged patients to share their experience of the treatment and care they have received to help identify where improvements can be made in the future. One of the issues raised was the possibility of conducting a CVD patient experience survey, which will be considered alongside the other suggestions that have been made.

Hospitals: Infectious Diseases

Chris Skidmore: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many patients over 65 years of age died from hospital-acquired infections in each of the last 10 years.

Daniel Poulter: The information requested on all healthcare associated infections is not available. However, mortality data on methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infections and Clostridium difficile infections mentioned on death certificates are collated and published by the Office for National Statistics. These data are in the following table.
	
		
			 Number of deaths involving MRSA and Clostridium difficile among those aged over 65 years in England, 2002-11(1, 2) 
			  2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 
			 MRSA           
			 Mentions(3) 617 758 932 1,339 1,338 1,324 980 633 397 289 
			 Underlying cause(4) 203 273 296 393 431 398 179 125 63 48 
			            
			 Clostridium difficile           
			 Mentions 1,280 1,662 2,069 3,505 6,034 7,518 5,136 3,341 2,200 1,692 
			 Underlying cause 689 894 1,133 1,926 3,282 3,747 2,197 1,455 905 711 
			 (1) Figures exclude deaths of non-residents. (2) Figures are for deaths registered in each calendar year. (3) Deaths where MRSA or C. difficile was mentioned on the deaths certificate. (4 )Deaths where MRSA or C. difficile was the underlying cause of death. Figures exclude neonatal deaths. Source: Office for National Statistics 
		
	
	Although MRSA infections and Clostridium difficile infections are defined by the Health Protection Agency as healthcare associated infections, it is not possible to state whether the deceased was a patient at the time of death, or where the infection was acquired.
	The data show that fewer people are dying from MRSA and Clostridium difficile. The NHS has worked hard and done well to get these reductions. However, we have been clear that the NHS should take a zero tolerance approach to all avoidable healthcare associated infections and there should be more progress.
	All hospitals and care settings should be performing at the standard of the best and this is what the NHS must provide.

Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what discussions officials of his Department have had with (a) the Human Tissue Authority, (b) the Care Quality Commission and (c) the Health Research Authority on the consultation launched in June 2012 on proposals to transfer functions from the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority and the Human Tissue Authority.

Anna Soubry: Officials at the Department had discussions with the Human Tissue Authority, the Care Quality Commission, the Health Research Authority and the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority before the consultation was launched in order to check facts contained in the consultation document that related specifically to them.
	Representatives from these organisations attended a departmental workshop held on 19 September, along with other stakeholders, to facilitate discussion on the options outlined in the consultation. Each organisation has also submitted its own response to the consultation.

Injuries: Knives

David Ruffley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health with reference to the answer of 16 March 2011, Official Report, columns 445-8W, on injuries: knives, how many knife wound injuries were treated in hospitals in each primary care trust and strategic health authority in (a) Suffolk, (b) Bedfordshire, (c) Cambridgeshire, (d) Essex, (e) Hertfordshire and (f) Norfolk in each year since 2010-11.

Anna Soubry: The information is not available in the format requested. Such information as is available is set out in the following table:
	
		
			 Count of finished admission episodes (FAEs)(1) with an external cause that indicates a wound from a sharp object(2) by PCT of residence(3) in East of England SHA of residence for the years 2010-11 to 2011-12 (Activity in English NHS Hospitals and English NHS commissioned activity in the independent sector) 
			 PCT of Residence 2010-11 2011-12 
			 Bedfordshire PCT 64 60 
			 Cambridgeshire PCT 192 194 
			 Great Yarmouth and Waverney PCT 43 38 
			 Hertfordshire PCT 167 199 
			 Luton PCT 41 48 
			 Mid Essex PCT 132 130 
			 Norfolk PCT 150 170 
			 North East Essex PCT 66 77 
			 Peterborough PCT 70 85 
			 South East Essex PCT 100 116 
			 South West Essex PCT 100 103 
			 Suffolk PCT 96 102 
			 West Essex PCT 76 82 
			 (1 )A finished admission episode (FAE) is the first period of inpatient care under one consultant within one healthcare provider. FAEs are counted against the year in which the admission episode finishes. Admissions do not represent the number of inpatients, as a person may have more than one admission within the year. (2) A supplementary code that indicates the nature of any external cause of injury, poisoning or other adverse effects. Only the first external cause code which is coded within the episode is counted in Hospital Episode Statistics. ICD—10 Codes used: W26—Contact with knife, sword or dagger X78—Intentional self-harm by sharp object X99—Assault by sharp object Y28—Contact with sharp object, undetermined intent The above codes identifies any sharp objects, and therefore includes (but is not limited to) knife. (3) The strategic health authority (SHA) or primary care trust (PCT) containing the patient's normal home address. This does not necessarily reflect where the patient was treated as they may have travelled to another SHA/PCT for treatment. A change in methodology in 2011-12 resulted in an increase in the number of records where the PCT or SHA of residence was unknown. From 2006-07 to 2010-11 the current PCT and SHA of residence fields were populated from the recorded patient postcode. In order to improve data completeness, if the postcode was unknown the PCT, SHA and country of residence were populated from the PCT/SHA value supplied by the provider. From April 2011-12 Onwards if the patient postcode is unknown the PCT, SHA and country of residence are listed as unknown. Source: Hospital Episode Statistics (HES), Health and Social Care Information Centre

Meals on Wheels: Leeds

Greg Mulholland: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many meals on wheels were distributed in Leeds North West constituency in each year since 2007.

Norman Lamb: We are informed by the NHS Information Centre for health and social care that the information requested is not available for Leeds North West constituency.
	However, information relating to the number of meals per week provided to adults, aged 18 and over, as a community-based service funded wholly or partly by Leeds city council, is collected and published by the Information Centre. This covers part, but not all, of the Leeds North West constituency.
	The following able shows this information for the financial years 2006-07 to 2011-12.
	
		
			 Average number of meals(1) per week provided by Leeds city council (LCC) for the financial years 2006-07 to 2011-12 
			 Financial year Provided directly by LCC(2) Provided by independent sector on behalf of LCC(3) 
			 2006-074 0 0 
			 2007-08(4) 4,327 (5)— 
			 2008-09(4) 0 0 
			 2009-10 2,482 264 
			 2010-11 3,066 0 
			 2011-12(6) 2,173 0 
			 (1) Includes meals on wheels, meals in luncheon clubs and cook-chill meals. Excludes meals provided at day centres, even if the service users only come to the day centre for the meal. (2) Includes meals prepared by an outside contractor but delivered by the internal homecare service. (3 )Excludes meals prepared by an outside contractor but delivered by the internal homecare service. (4 )The figures for 2008-09 were queried by the Information Centre as part of its routine validations and the response from Leeds city council indicated that the figures were actually unknown, rather than zero. However, as Leeds did not formally resubmit its data return, the figures were published as zero. They should be treated with caution, together with other figures prior to 2008-09. (5) Data not provided. (6) Data for 2011-12 are provisional. Final data will be released by the Information Centre on 31 January 2013.

NHS: Pay

Andrew Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what monitoring his Department undertakes of the remuneration of NHS Trust executives.

Daniel Poulter: NHS trusts and NHS foundation trusts are free to determine their own pay rates for their executives. The Department does not routinely monitor their remuneration but has access to independently produced information derived from the annual accounts of the organisations concerned.

Olympic Games 2012

Tessa Jowell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps his Department is taking to safeguard the legacy of the London 2012 Olympics in the policy areas for which he is responsible; and what budget his Department has allocated for that purpose.

Anna Soubry: The Department of Health is committed to delivering a lasting health legacy from the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic games. The Department is investing £8.4 million over four years to deliver Change4Life Sports Clubs in primary and secondary schools. In addition, the Department is providing a contribution of £7 million per annum for four years (up to 2015) to support delivery of the School Games. On 9 January 2012, the Department announced that £30 million of capital funding would be made available towards fulfilling the bid commitment to establish a new National Centre for Sports and Exercise Medicine.

Out-patients: Attendance

Andrew Gwynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what recent assessment he has made of the cost to the public purse of missed outpatient appointments.

Anna Soubry: No estimates have been made centrally of the cost of missed appointments.

Schools: Vaccination

Siobhain McDonagh: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many (a) academies and (b) free schools have opted out of the schools immunisation programme to date.

Anna Soubry: The human papillomavirus (HPV) immunisation programme for girls aged 12 to 13 years is the only national immunisation programme that is currently delivered in schools. The information requested is not collected centrally by the Department. Primary care trusts are currently responsible for the implementation of the HPV immunisation programme in their area and arrange alternative provision should an academy or school not wish to offer the HPV vaccine programme.
	The HPV immunisation programme has achieved high uptake rates with 84.2% of 12 to 13-year-old girls completing the three-dose course in 2010-11.

Sickness Absence

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the answer of 9 November 2012, Official Report, columns 803-4W, on sick leave, what assessment he has made of the difference in the proportion of working days lost due to ill health between officers at administrative grade and at SCS grade; and what assessment he has made of the use of mindfulness-based therapies in reducing the proportion of working days lost in his Department.

Daniel Poulter: The Department has not made any formal assessment of the difference in the proportion of working days lost due to ill health between officers at administrative grade and at senior civil service (SCS) grades.
	The Department has a number of approaches to draw out the reasons for differences in attendance rates between groups of staff. These include examining underlying and contextual factors such as location, work area or division, and the impact of change programmes on particular groups of staff. Employee engagement and work-life balance ratings in the annual People Survey are also analysed by grade and measures put in place to address disparities as appropriate.
	The Department has a health and well-being strategy and programme of activities, which includes a variety of activities to aid emotional well-being. The Employee Assistance programme offers counselling support, which draws on cognitive behavioural techniques. The Department is also a “Mindful Employer” signatory.

Surgery: Harrow

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  what restrictions relating to (a) age of patient, (b) weight of patient and (c) other factors there are on the NHS treatment of (i) varicose veins, (ii) cataracts, (iii) carpal tunnel syndrome, (iv) hip surgery and (v) knee surgery in the Harrow Primary Care Trust area; and if he will make a statement;
	(2)  whether patients in the Harrow Primary Care Trust area are required to pay for treatment for (a) varicose veins, (b) cataracts, (c) hip surgery, (d) knee surgery and (e) carpel tunnel syndrome; and if he will make a statement.

Anna Soubry: Primary care trusts are responsible for the commissioning of treatment and services, taking into account evidence of best practice and the needs of the local population.
	NHS North West London informs us that treatments for the specified conditions are among 84 procedures covered by their Planned Procedures with a Threshold policy. NHS North West London's guidance on the policy makes clear that if there is good evidence that a particular aspect of a patient's characteristics or lifestyle will affect the clinical and/or cost-effectiveness of a particular treatment, then that will be taken into account in considering whether to fund that treatment. Further information about the Planned Procedures with a Threshold policy can be obtained from NHS North West London's website at:
	www.northwestlondon.nhs.uk/ifr
	The principle that national health service services should be free at the point of use, based on clinical need and not an individual's ability to pay, has underpinned the NHS since its establishment in 1946. This principle is enshrined in the NHS Constitution, and reaffirmed in the Health and Social Care Act 2012.
	NHS North West London informs me that patients who are eligible for NHS treatment and meet the criteria will be funded for the procedure. Patients who do not meet the criteria can also be considered for funding via the Individual Funding Request process which look at any exceptional circumstances that the patient may have.

DEFENCE

Afghanistan

Jim Murphy: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence which assets have been removed from Afghanistan as part of the draw down since 1 January 2010.

Andrew Robathan: holding answer 10 December 2012
	Due to continually evolving operational needs, the requirement for support has been constantly reviewed throughout the UK deployment to Afghanistan. In response to these changing demands, a variety of assets have been removed from Afghanistan.
	The major redeployment effort started on 1 October 2012 and will now continue in step with the progress made on the ground in transition terms. As of 30 November 2012 it had already delivered the following from Afghanistan:
	
		
			 Type of asset Number of units(1) 
			 Vehicles 60 
			 Major equipment 40 
			 ISO containers or equivalent 140 
			 (1) Rounded to the nearest 10

Afghanistan

Jim Murphy: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence which equipment platforms presently in Afghanistan will remain post-2014; and who will fund their running costs.

Andrew Robathan: No decisions have yet been taken on what, if any, equipment platforms will remain in Afghanistan post-2014.

Afghanistan

Jim Murphy: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what equipment platforms are in Afghanistan.

Andrew Robathan: In Afghanistan, we currently have a range of protected mobility vehicles including Warrior, Ridgback and the recently delivered Foxhound, as well as other specialist vehicles including heavy equipment transporters and mobile artillery. A variety of aircraft are based in or operate into and out of Afghanistan, including the Tornado GR4, Hercules C130, Apache and Chinooks, as well as remotely piloted systems such as Reaper and a variety of smaller systems. Equipment will be progressively withdrawn from Afghanistan as transition to an Afghan security lead proceeds, with the balance of equipment capability available to commanders kept under careful review.

Afghanistan

Jim Murphy: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence on which UK assets Afghan National Army personnel are trained to operate independently.

Andrew Robathan: Small numbers of Afghan National Army personnel are routinely trained on UK equipment that they are loaned for partnered and independent operations. This aids their operational capability, including providing force protection for international security assistance force troops. Afghan personnel are trained to operate UK metal detectors, some Global Positioning Systems, night vision and radio equipment.

Afghanistan

David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence for what reason his Department changed the classification of the witness statement that was released to the High Court on 29 November 2012 in the case of Serdar Mohammed.

Andrew Robathan: The witness statement in question was originally made as a closed witness statement in 2010 in connection with an earlier case and included information which was considered sensitive at that time. When the Ministry of Defence was asked to release it in the Serdar Mohammed proceedings, the content was reviewed in accordance with the MOD's responsibilities to disclose as much relevant information as possible. Because of changing circumstances some of the content was no longer deemed sensitive and therefore no longer required protection. Other information contained in the witness statement continues to be sensitive and has been withheld.

Disclosure of Information

Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence pursuant to the answer of 14 November 2011, Official Report, column 526W, on disclosure of information, if he will publish the findings of the inquiry into the unauthorised disclosure of the letter between the former Secretary of State and the Prime Minister which appeared in The Daily Telegraph on 28 September 2010.

Philip Hammond: holding answer 10 December 2012
	I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 23 May 2012, Official Report, column 722W.

ISTAR

Jim Murphy: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what ISTAR capabilities the UK has available and deployable.

Andrew Robathan: Specialised Intelligence, Surveillance Targeting Acquisition and Reconnaissance (ISTAR) platforms used by the UK that are currently deployable and available include:
	Cortez—a system providing a suite of sensors to various levels of deployed bases.
	Desert Hawk 3—a low level tactical unmanned air system (UAS) providing situational awareness and full motion video to troops in Afghanistan.
	Hermes 450—a tactical UAS providing electro-optical/infra-red (EO/IR) imagery in Afghanistan.
	Raptor—an imaging pod carried on the Tornado aircraft.
	Reaper—an operational armed UAS providing EO/IR and Synthetic Aperture Radar capability.
	Seer—a land deployed tactical signal intelligence equipment.
	Sentinel—a radar surveillance manned aircraft providing Synthetic Aperture Radar and Ground Moving Target Indicator (GMTI) functionality.
	Sentry—the E3 Sentry aircraft providing air command and control and situational awareness.
	Sea King Airborne Surveillance and Control (SKASaC)—a radar fitted to Sea King Helicopter providing GMTI capability.

Yemen

Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what recent discussions he has had with his US counterpart on its policy of using drones to attack targets in Yemen.

Andrew Robathan: The Secretary of State for Defence has regular and routine discussions with the US Defense Secretary on a range of issues. The UK Government's position is that the use of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles against terrorist targets is a matter for the states involved. We expect all concerned to act in accordance with international law including taking all feasible precautions to avoid civilian casualties when conducting military operations.

DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER

Bill of Rights Commission

Charlie Elphicke: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what meetings he has had with (a) the Chairman and (b) any other members of the Commission on a Bill of Rights since 23 April 2012; who attended any such meeting; whether the business of the Commission was discussed at any such meeting; and whether a record of what was said at any such meeting was made.

Nicholas Clegg: I have had no further meetings with the Chairman of the Commission since 23 April 2012. I have had two meetings with members of the Commission in that period.
	On 29 May 2012 I had a meeting with Philippe Sands QC, at which the work of the Commission was discussed. I also discussed the work of the Commission with Philippe Sands QC in a telephone call on 12 November 2012.
	On 23 July 2012 I had a meeting with Lord Lester of Herne Hill QC. This meeting was not to discuss the work of the Commission on a Bill of Rights.
	Members of my office attended these meetings and no official records were kept of these conversations.

Regional Planning and Development

Tom Blenkinsop: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how many staff in his Department are working on the Cities Policy Unit.

Nicholas Clegg: The Cities Unit is part of the Cabinet Office. As part of the transparency agenda, the Cabinet Office publishes an organogram and structure charts that provide information on staffing in the Cabinet Office and its units. These are available at:
	http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/resource-library/structure-charts-cabinet-office
	and on
	www.data.gov.uk

Trident

John Woodcock: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister when he expects to publish the final report of the Trident Alternatives Review.

Danny Alexander: I have been asked to reply 
	as the Minister responsible for the Trident Alternatives Review.
	I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 31 October 2012, Official Report, column 249W, to the hon. Member for Islington North (Jeremy Corbyn).

JUSTICE

Criminal Injuries Compensation

Cathy Jamieson: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many victims of crime received an award for compensation for loss of earnings in (a) 2009-10, (b) 2010-11 and (c) 2011-12; and what the total amount received as compensation for loss of earnings by victims was in each tariff band.

Helen Grant: The figures are as follows. Some tariff bands changed with scheme changes in 2001 and 2008, so there are two or more figures for some bands in each year to reflect the number of awards paid broken down by which scheme was applicable.
	
		
			  Band Amount Number Loe value 
			 2009-10 1 1,000 58 290,920 
			  2 1,250 5 12,898 
		
	
	
		
			  3 1,500 12 77,508 
			  4 1,750 1 3,955 
			  5 2,000 32 209,632 
			  6 2,500 43 316,079 
			  7 3,300 69 670,465 
			  8 3,800 38 329,838 
			  9 4,000 1 2,994 
			  9 4,400 130 1,670,156 
			  10 5,500 51 712,281 
			  10 5,000 2 369,897 
			  11 6,600 21 345,918 
			  12 8,200 212 6,736,632 
			  12 7,500 5 140,499 
			  13 11,000 51 1,768,153 
			  13 10,000 1 4,957 
			  14 13,500 97 5,584,361 
			  15 16,500 54 2,844,342 
			  15 15,000 2 28,602 
			  16 19,000 32 2,318,045 
			  17 20,000 8 1,047,517 
			  17 22,000 48 2,126,594 
			  18 27,000 20 2,377,887 
			  18 30,000 1 224,730 
			  19 33,000 3 261,668 
			  19 30,000 1 224,730 
			  20 44,000 30 3,856,455 
			  20 40,000 11 2,165,265 
			  21 55,000 2 273,508 
			  21 50,000 3 561,072 
			  22 75,000 1 304,310 
			  23 110,000 16 2,618,660 
			  24 175,000 5 365,271 
			  25 250,000 13 2,086,048 
			 2010-11 1 1,000 37 366,351 
			  2 1,250 2 6,906 
			  3 1,500 6 30,669 
			  5 2,000 33 250,033 
			  6 2,500 41 330,188 
			  7 3,300 88 650,896 
			  7 3,000 1 17,191 
			  8 3,800 36 235,216 
			  9 4,400 129 1,987,362 
			  10 5,500 71 1,580,523 
			  10 5,000 3 408,447 
			  11 6,000 1 4,920 
			  11 6,600 24 656,872 
			  12 8,200 237 7,237,653 
			  12 7,500 12 557,612 
			  13 11,000 58 2,648,067 
			  13 10,000 2 223,921 
			  14 13,500 125 7,421,899 
			  15 15,000 5 947,620 
			  15 16,500 78 3,149,232 
		
	
	
		
			  16 19,000 54 4,808,126 
			  17 22,000 52 4,422,175 
			  17 20,000 16 1,579,420 
			  18 27,000 35 3,309,882 
			  19 33,000 8 505,031 
			  20 44,000 52 9,077,781 
			  20 40,000 13 3,136,143 
			  21 50,000 7 1,799,220 
			  21 55,000 17 2,386,203 
			  22 82,000 2 726,729 
			  22 75,000 1 132,569 
			  23 110,000 11 2,122,719 
			  24 175,000 8 1,010,542 
			  25 250,000 18 2,885,564 
			 2011-12 1 1,000 30 278,336 
			  2 1,250 1 746 
			  3 1,500 5 35,671 
			  4 1,750 I 1,619 
			  5 2,000 21 176,271 
			  6 2,500 28 117,846 
			  7 3,300 64 603,469 
			  8 3,800 20 190,038 
			  9 4,400 103 1,095,977 
			  10 5,000 1 41,764 
			  10 5,500 53 1,089,447 
			  11 6.600 12 374,235 
			  12 8,200 183 5,975,553 
			  12 7,500 2 89,926 
			  13 11,000 39 1,357,027 
			  13 10,000 1 25,000 
			  14 13,500 141 7,721,742 
			  15 15,000 1 122,745 
			  15 16,500 71 3,915,931 
			  16 19,000 43 3,705,737 
			  17 22,000 45 3,421,337 
			  17 20,000 8 1,295,761 
			  18 25,000 1 25,000 
			  18 27,000 28 2,001,793 
			  19 33,000 4 300,334 
			  20 40,000 3 296,262 
			  20 44,000 48 7,987,074 
			  21 50,000 2 605,503 
			  21 55,000 15 1,416,544 
			  22 82,000 1 103,814 
			  22 75,000 2 424,554 
			  23 110,000 17 2,582,703 
			  24 175,000 3 422,576 
			  25 250,000 11 1,499,978

Debt Collection

Julian Huppert: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what progress he is making on the Coalition Agreement commitment to (a) provide more protection against unreasonable charging orders, (b) ensure that courts have the power to insist that repossession is always a last resort and (c) ban orders for sale on unsecured debts of less than £25,000.

Helen Grant: Judicial discretion exists in all applications for charging orders and orders for sale, and provides the necessary protection against unreasonable applications. As a result of full public consultation it was considered necessary to introduce a threshold for orders for sale, and a £1,000 threshold on unsecured Consumer Credit Act debts was deemed to be the most appropriate level. This should provide adequate protection against unreasonable charging orders without weakening the civil justice system. The Order for Sale regulations have been laid before Parliament as an affirmative statutory instrument. The Commons debate has been scheduled for 10 January.
	The pre-action protocol for possession claims based on mortgage or home purchase plans arrears in respect of residential property has been amended and strengthened to ensure that courts have the power to insist that repossession is always a last resort.

Drugs: Misuse

Brian Binley: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what assessment he has made of the level of substance misuse rates for each (a) police force and (b) probation trust area; and if he will make a statement.

Jeremy Browne: I have been asked to reply 
	on behalf of the Home Department.
	Information is not available at this level of detail. Questions on drug use are asked in the self completion module of the Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW), formerly known as the British Crime Survey.
	However, the sample size of the CSEW is not large enough to provide a robust estimate of the level of substance misuse rates for police force or probation trust areas.

Employment Agencies

Catherine McKinnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what his policy is on the use of offshore employment companies in the supply of public sector workers in his Department and its associated public bodies.

Jeremy Wright: The Ministry of Justice does not have a specific policy in place regarding the use of offshore employment companies in the Ministry and its associated public bodies. However, there are a number of mandatory contracts in place with UK registered organisations for the provision of temporary labour.
	None of these organisations supplies contractors from companies that are registered outside the UK.

Fraud: Shares

Graham Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many people have been convicted of (a) boiler room and (b) recovery room scams in each year for which figures are available.

Jeremy Wright: Information held centrally on the Ministry of Justice Court Proceedings Database does not include the circumstances behind each case beyond the description provided in the statute. It is not possible to separately identify from this centrally held information those specific offences that are related to boiler room and recovery room scams.

ICT: Theft

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many (a) computers, (b) mobile telephones, (c) BlackBerrys and (d) other pieces of IT equipment were lost or stolen from his Department in (i) 2010-11 and (ii) 2011-12; and if he will make a statement.

Helen Grant: Details of (a) computers, (b) mobile phones, (c) BlackBerrys and (d) other pieces of IT equipment lost or stolen from the Ministry of Justice in (i) 2010-11 and (ii) 2011-12 are supplied in the following table. Information on the number of (b) mobile telephones lost or stolen is not held centrally, and can be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
	
		
			 IT equipment lost/stolen 2010-11 2011-12 
			 (a) Computers (PCs and laptops) 84 55 
			 (b) Mobile telephones (1)— (1)— 
			 (c) BlackBerrys 56 28 
			 (d) Other pieces of IT equipment (RSA/RAS secure :ID tokens, Becrypt encryption tokens and Removable Media) 183 184 
			 (1) Not held centrally. 
		
	
	All Ministry of Justice laptops and BlackBerrys are encrypted and protected with a complex password; and all BlackBerrys that are registered as lost or stolen are blocked remotely, making it impossible for them to be used. The Ministry also implements security incident management procedures to ensure that the impacts of incidents are risk managed, and investigations are undertaken to seek, where possible, to retrieve lost/stolen assets.
	The Ministry adopts Government security policy framework requirements to securely protect its assets.

Personal Injury: Compensation

Steve Rotheram: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice 
	(1)  what assessment he has made of the potential effects of the proposed introduction of a fixed cost on personal injury cases on access to justice; and if he will place in the Library a copy of any such assessment;
	(2)  if he will estimate the potential number of people who will lose their jobs in the legal services industry as a result of the proposed plans to fix the costs of all personal injury cases;
	(3)  if he will undertake an impact assessment of the potential effects on personal injury lawyers of the proposed plans to fix costs of all personal injury cases.

Helen Grant: Prior to implementation of the extended Road Traffic Accident Personal Injury scheme, the Government will undertake an impact assessment of the potential effects on affected groups of introducing fixed recoverable costs in personal injury claims. This will be published on the Ministry of Justice website and a copy will be placed in the Libraries of both Houses.

Planning Permission: Judicial Review

Hilary Benn: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many applications for permission to apply for judicial review of a planning decision were made in each of the last 10 years; how many of those were granted; and how many subsequent applications for judicial review determined by the court were (a) allowed, (b) dismissed and (c) withdrawn.

Helen Grant: The following tables give figures for judicial review relating to planning decisions that were received and granted permission, and how many of those were allowed, dismissed or withdrawn in the last 10 years.
	
		
			 Type Topic 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 
			 Applications received in the Administrative Court Office         
			 Judicial Review Civil Town and Country Planning 112 116 121 142 119 122 119 
			          
			 Applications granted permission to proceed to a full hearing (at initial permission and renewal stage)         
			 Judicial Review Civil Town and Country Planning 51 56 68 63 47 54 49 
			          
			 Substantive hearings allowed         
			 Judicial Review Civil Town and Country Planning 10 19 29 17 12 11 10 
			          
			 Substantive hearings dismissed         
			 Judicial Review Civil Town and Country Planning 19 13 32 17 14 12 12 
			          
			 Substantive hearings withdrawn         
			 Judicial Review Civil Town and Country Planning 13 11 18 10 2 0 0 
			          
		
	
	
		
			 Cases determined by Court (including cases allowed, dismissed and cases determined by consent without a substantive hearing)         
			 Judicial Review Civil Town and Country Planning 64 69 98 71 72 67 66 
			          
			 Cases withdrawn (without a substantive hearing)         
			 Judicial Review Civil Town and Country Planning 8 23 46 39 27 20 6 
		
	
	
		
			 Type Topic 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 
			 Applications received in the Administrative Court Office         
			 Judicial Review Civil Town and Country Planning 140 142 151 184 165 148 191 
			          
			 Applications granted permission to proceed to a full hearing (at initial permission and renewal stage)         
			 Judicial Review Civil Town and Country Planning 44 50 51 67 64 46 61 
			          
			 Substantive hearings allowed         
			 Judicial Review Civil Town and Country Planning 11 7 17 14 15 17 6 
			          
			 Substantive hearings dismissed         
			 Judicial Review Civil Town and Country Planning 10 7 6 13 16 11 21 
			          
			 Substantive hearings withdrawn         
			 Judicial Review Civil Town and Country Planning 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 
			          
			 Cases determined by Court (including cases allowed, dismissed and cases determined by consent without a substantive hearing)         
			 Judicial Review Civil Town and Country Planning 76 44 77 111 116 87 122 
			          
			 Cases withdrawn (without a substantive hearing)         
			 Judicial Review Civil Town and Country Planning 23 15 26 34 23 26 19

Prisoners: Kent

Gareth Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many prisoners were held in Kent in each of the last 10 years; and how many such prisoners did not serve their full custodial sentence.

Jeremy Wright: All offenders serving a determinate sentence serve part of their sentence in custody and part on licence in the community.
	If the sentence was imposed under the provisions of the Criminal Justice Act 2003 (for offences committed on or after 4 April 2005), the first half of the sentence is served in custody and the second half is served on release on licence in the community.
	If the sentence was imposed under the provisions of the Criminal Justice Act 1991 and is four years or longer, release is determined on the basis of risk by the Parole Board between the halfway and two-thirds point of the sentence. The offender is on licence from the point at which he is released until the three quarter point of sentence and then at risk for the final quarter. If a 1991 Act sentence is less than four years, the offender will be released at the halfway point, on licence to three quarter point and then at risk for the final quarter.
	We do not hold figures for the number of prisoners held in Kent over the last ten years, as the data we collect is a snapshot of the prison population. However, are the following table provides information on the prison population in Kent prison establishments as of 30 June of each year from 2003 to 2012.
	
		
			 Population in Kent prisons(1) as at 30 June of each year 2003-12 
			  Total 
			 2003 3,864 
			 2004 3,881 
			 2005 4,115 
			 2006 4,057 
		
	
	
		
			 2007 4,107 
			 2008 3,914 
			 2009 4,364 
			 2010 4,913 
			 2011 4,772 
			 2012 4,833 
			 (1) Includes:HMPs/YOIs Blantyre House, Canterbury, Cookham Wood, Dover. Elmley, East Sutton Park. Maidstone, Rochester, Standford Hill and Swaleside. 
		
	
	These figures have been drawn from administrative IT systems which, as with any large scale recording system, are subject to possible errors with data entry and processing.

Rangers Football Club: Taxation

Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice if he will take steps to ensure that an independent inquiry is held into the (a) conduct of and (b) time taken to conclude the tax tribunal between HM Revenue and Customs and the former Rangers Football Club.

Helen Grant: Appeals against decisions made by Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs relating to tax are heard by the first-tier tribunal (tax), administered by Her Majesty's Courts and Tribunals Service.
	It is not our intention to establish an independent inquiry into the conduct of the tribunal or the time taken to conclude proceedings between Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs and the former Rangers Football Club. These are matters for the independent judiciary. Any complaints about the conduct of the tribunal and the time taken for the judicial process to conclude should be referred to the chamber president of the first-tier tribunal (tax) as set out in the Judicial Complaints (Tribunals) Rules (No 2) 2008.

Senior Civil Servants

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many and what proportion of senior civil servants have left (a) his Department and (b) each of the public bodies for which he is responsible since May 2010; what the rate of turnover of senior civil servants has been in (i) his Department and (ii) each such body since May 2010; and if he will make a statement.

Jeremy Wright: The information is as follows:
	(a) The number of senior civil servants (SCS) that have left the Ministry of Justice (HQ, HM Courts and Tribunals Service, Office of the Public Guardian and National Offender Management Service) between 1 May 2010 and 31 October 2012 and the turnover rate is shown in the following table:
	
		
			  Number of SCS leavers between 1 May 2010 and 31 October 2012 (full-time equivalent) Turnover rate of SCS between 1 May 2010 and 31 October 2012 (Percentage) 
			 Ministry of Justice HQ 64.9 17.7 
		
	
	
		
			 Office of the Public Guardian 0 0 
			 HM Courts and Tribunals Service 26 21.3 
			 National Offender Management Service 22 15.5 
		
	
	Please note that NOMS operates on a different IT HR management system. Therefore a small number of senior civil servants may have been counted as leaving MOJ HQ, OPG and HMCTS but transferred to NOMS.
	None of the NOMS SCS leavers shown in this table has transferred to MOJ HQ, OPG and HMCTS.
	(b) Employees of the Ministry's public bodies are not generally civil servants.
	Workforce information is published for the Department and its arm’s length bodies from March 2011 and can be found on the transparency pages of the Department's website:
	http://www.justice.gov.uk/information-access-rights/transparency-data/workforce-management-info

Surveys

Andrew Gwynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice if he will place in the Library a copy of the results of his Department's most recent staff survey; which organisation carried out the survey; and what the cost of the survey was.

Jeremy Wright: Civil Service People Survey (CSPS) was procured under a single contract across the civil service by the Cabinet Office. The contract is currently held by ORC International.
	The MOJ results from the 2012 CSPS will be published on the Ministry of Justice website at the end of January 2013 and a copy will be placed in the Library at the same time.
	The MOJ share of the 2011 costs of the CSPS was £100,501 (excluding VAT). As work on the 2012 CSPS is not yet completed, the full costs incurred are not yet known.

Work Capability Assessment: Appeals

Tom Greatrex: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what proportion of appeals to work capability assessments by (a) all appellants, (b) incapacity benefit reassessment claimants and (c) new employment and support allowance claimants was upheld in (i) each month since May 2010, (ii) 2010, (iii) 2011 and (iv) 2012 to date.

Helen Grant: Her Majesty's Courts and Tribunals Service (HMCTS) hears appeals against Department for Work and Pensions decisions on entitlement to employment and support allowance (ESA) (decisions in which the work capability assessment is a key factor) rather than appeals against work capability assessment decisions themselves.
	The following table shows the proportion of appeals against entitlement to employment and support allowance (ESA) that were upheld in each month from May 2010 to June 2012 (the latest date for which information is available). The information is broken down as follows:
	(a) Total number of appeals relating to ESA decision (incapacity benefit reassessment (IBR) and ESA);
	(b) IBR appeals only;
	(c) ESA appeals only.
	The first incapacity benefit reassessment appeals were heard by the Social Security and Child Support tribunal in February 2011.
	
		
			 Appeals found in favour of the appellant 
			 Percentage 
			  (a) All Appellants (incapacity benefit reassessment and ESA) (b) Incapacity benefit reassessment (c) ESA 
			 May 2010 40 n/a 40 
			 June 2010 39 n/a 39 
			 July 2010 37 n/a 37 
			 August 2010 37 n/a 37 
			 September 2010 38 n/a 38 
			 October 2010 37 n/a 37 
			 November 2010 37 n/a 37 
			 December 2010 36 n/a 36 
			 January 2011 36 n/a 36 
			 February 2011 38 25 38 
			 March 2011 40 (1)9 39 
			 April 2011 39 (1)0 38 
			 May 2011 38 25 38 
			 June 2011 38 32 38 
			 July 2011 38 43 38 
			 August 2011 38 50 38 
			 September 2011 38 29 38 
			 October 2011 39 30 39 
			 November 2011 40 31 39 
			 December 2011 39 39 39 
			 January 2012 41 41 41 
			 February 2012 42 42 42 
			 March 2012 43 44 44 
			 April 2012 42 42 42 
			 May 2012 42 45 43 
			 June 2012 40 46 42 
			 (1) These low percentages are due to the small numbers of cases heard in these months, 23 appeals in March 2011 and 10 appeals in April 2011. Source: The data is taken from management information.

Young Offender Institutions

Elfyn Llwyd: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what proportion of staff in each young offender institution have completed (a) Group 1 training and (b) Group 2 training.

Jeremy Wright: There are no courses available for staff in young offender institutions (YOIs) known as Group 1 or Group 2 training. The Working with Young People in Custody (WYPC) training programme is the only training specifically aimed at staff working within public sector under-18 YOIs. WYPC replaced the Juvenile Awareness Staff Programme (JASP) in June 2012.
	JASP, which ceased to be delivered on 31 March 2012, was made up of two modules. JASP 1 was a three-day course incorporating child protection training and understanding adolescence. JASP 2 was a four-day course which included training in mental health, vulnerability, resettlement, training planning, managing challenging behaviour and safeguarding. Information on the proportion of relevant staff in each YOI who had completed JASP 1 and 2 as at 31 March 2012 can be found in Table A.
	WYPC is comprised of four non-consecutive modules, two of which include mandatory pre-course e-learning. The modules are:
	1. WYPC: Child protection and safeguarding;
	2. WYPC: Adolescent development;
	3. WYPC: Speech language and communication needs;
	4. WYPC: Emotional and mental well-being.
	The first two modules came on line on 19 June 2012. Information on the proportion of relevant staff in each YOI who have completed modules 1 and 2 or their JASP equivalent to date can be found in Table B. Development of WYPC modules 3 and 4 is due to be completed in January 2013 and April 2013 respectively.
	
		
			 Table A 
			 Establishment Relevant staff trained to JASP 1 (percentage) Relevant staff trained in JASP 1 and 2 (percentage) 
			 Cookham Wood (1)70.29 (1)61.14 
			 Downview 91.89 89.19 
			 Eastwood Park 93.02 93.02 
			 Feltham 91.18 85.71 
			 Hindley 97.32 96.43 
			 New Hall 94.44 94.44 
			 Warren Hill 96.74 96.20 
			 Werrington 97.24 97.24 
			 Wetherby 92.12 90.30 
			 Estate total 91.73 89.11 
			 (1) The figures in relation to Cookham Wood are lower as they were initially delivering a bespoke training package locally. 
		
	
	
		
			 Table B 
			 Establishment Relevant staff trained in WYPC module 1 or the JASP equivalent (percentage) Relevant staff trained in WYPC module 2 or the JASP equivalent (percentage) 
			 Cookham Wood (1)77.4 (1)66.1 
			 Downview 91.7 94.4 
			 Eastwood Park 85.0 80.0 
			 Feltham 89.2 88.3 
			 Hindley 91.6 90.4 
			 New Hall 89.1 89.1 
			 Warren Hill 90.4 88.3 
			 Werrington 98.6 93.7 
			 Wetherby 89.9 81.4 
			 Total 89.5 85.1 
			 (1) The figures in relation to Cookham Wood are lower as they were initially delivering a bespoke training package locally.

CABINET OFFICE

Business: Devon

Anne-Marie Morris: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office how many businesses in (a) Devon and (b) Newton Abbot constituency have closed in each of the last 10 years.

Nick Hurd: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply.
	Letter from Glen Watson, dated November 2012
	As Director General for the Office for National Statistics, I have been asked to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question concerning the number of businesses in (a) Devon and (b) Newton Abbot constituency that have closed in each of the last 10 years.
	Annual statistics on the number of businesses that have closed (we refer to these as enterprise deaths) are available in the ONS release on Business Demography at:
	http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/bus-register/business-demography/index.html
	The following table contains the latest figures available from ONS on the number of enterprise deaths in a) Devon and (b) Newton Abbot constituency. Constituency level data are only available from 2005 onwards. Prior to this the information was published by the department for Business Innovation and Skills in their publication: Business Start-ups and Closures: VAT Registrations and De-Registrations.
	The latest available data are for 2010. Data for 2011 will be available on 13 December 2012.
	Please note—data for the Newton Abbot constituency are shown for 2010, however, prior to this date the area was part of the Teignbridge constituency.. Therefore, data shown below for the period 2005-2009 are for the Teignbridge constituency. Please note that all figures have been rounded to the nearest 5, to avoid disclosure.
	
		
			 Count of enterprise deaths in Devon county and Newton Abbot and Teignbridge constituencies, 2005-10 
			  2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 
			 Teignbridge constituency 480 465 490 340 385 n/a 
			 Newton Abbot constituency n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a 375 
			 Devon county 2850 2695 2870 2950 3270 3175

Job Creation

Steve Rotheram: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office if he will estimate the number of jobs created in (a) Liverpool, Walton constituency, (b) Liverpool and (c) England that have been either (i) part-time or (ii) temporary contracts since May 2010.

Nick Hurd: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply.
	Letter from Glen Watson, dated December 2012
	As Director Generator the Office for National Statistics, I have been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Question asking for the number of jobs created in (a) Liverpool, Walton constituency, (b) Liverpool and (c) England that have been either (i) part-time or (ii) temporary contracts since May 2010 (133299).
	ONS compiles Labour Market Statistics following International Labour Organisation (ILO) definitions for areas smaller than the UK from the Annual Population Survey (APS).
	Information regarding jobs created is not available. As an alternative we have provided estimates of the number of people who were employed part-time or employed in jobs that were not permanent according to survey responses during the 12 month periods ending June 2010, the survey period closest to May 2010, and June 2012, along with the net change between these two periods. This provides a reasonable approximation of the number of jobs created since May 2010.
	As with any sample survey, estimates from the APS are subject to a margin of uncertainty.
	National and local area estimates for many labour market statistics, including employment, unemployment and claimant count are available on the NOMIS website at:
	http://www.nomisweb.co.uk
	
		
			 Table 1: Number of people employed part-time(1) 
			 Thousand 
			  Level  
			 12 months ending June 2010 June 2012 Change between 12 month periods ending June 2010 and June 2012 
			 Liverpool, Walton 10 11 1 
			 Liverpool 47 55 9 
			 England 1,219 1,301 82 
			 (1) Part-time in main job. Note: All estimates are independently rounded. Source: Annual Population Survey 
		
	
	
		
			 Table 2: Number of people employed in temporary jobs 
			 Thousand 
			  Level  
			 12 months ending June 2010 June 2012 Change between 12 month periods ending June 2010 and June 2012 
			 Liverpool, Walton 2 2 0 
			 Liverpool 16 12 -4 
			 England 6,465 6,605 140 
			 (1) Temporary is defined as “not permanent in some way”—reasons included are: Working for employment agency; Casual type of work; Seasonal work; Under contract for fixed term or fixed task; Other reason. Note: All estimates are independently rounded. Source: Annual Population Survey

Migration

Jonathan Edwards: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office how many people (a) have moved residence to Wales from Scotland, England and Northern Ireland and (b) have moved residence from Wales to Scotland, England and Northern Ireland in each of the last five years.

Nick Hurd: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply.
	Letter from Glen Watson, dated December 2012
	As Director General for the Office for National Statistics (ONS), I have been asked to respond to your Parliamentary Question to Her Majesty's Government, to ask the Minister of the Cabinet Office how many people (a) have moved residence to Wales from Scotland, England and Northern Ireland and (b) have moved residence from Wales to Scotland, England and Northern Ireland in each of the last five years. [133522].
	The tables show the estimated number of people who have moved residence to Wales from Scotland, England and Northern Ireland; and from Wales to Scotland, England and Northern Ireland for the years 2007-2011. This is the latest year for which internal migration data is available.
	The estimates are produced using a combination of data from the National Health Service Central Register, Patient Register Data System and Higher Education Statistics Agency. A detailed description of the methodology used to create internal migration estimates is available at:
	http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/guide-method/method-quality/specific/population-and-migration/estimating-internal-migration-customer-guidance-notes.pdf
	
		
			 Internal migration estimates between Wales and other UK countries for the years ending June 2007 to June 2011 
			 Counts 
			  Flows from Wales, origin Wales 
			 Destination 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 
			 England 53,623 52,427 53,467 51,871 52,620 
			 Northern Ireland 483 479 400 473 418 
			 Scotland 1,772 1,908 1,703 1,648 1,551 
		
	
	
		
			 Counts 
			  Flows to Wales, destination Wales 
			 Origin 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 
			 England 60,763 57,732 54,032 54,637 55,285 
			 Northern Ireland 417 384 353 364 370 
			 Scotland 1,588 1,492 1,505 1,527 1,467 
			 Sources: Office for National Statistics, National Records of Scotland, and Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency

Olympic Games 2012

Tessa Jowell: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office 
	(1)  what steps his Department is taking to safeguard the legacy of the London 2012 Olympics in the policy areas for which he is responsible; and what budget his Department has allocated for that purpose;
	(2)  what the membership is of the Olympic legacy committees managed by the cross-departmental unit in his Department.

Nick Hurd: The Olympic and Paralympic Legacy Unit, in the Cabinet Office but jointly staffed by the Mayor of London's team, is responsible for the co-ordination of the Olympics and Paralympics legacy of London 2012, through the Cabinet Committee for Olympic and Paralympic Legacy and through support of Lord Coe in his role as Legacy Ambassador. The membership of all Cabinet committees is published on the Cabinet Office website:
	www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk
	The Office for Civil Society and the Mayor of London's team work with the Olympic and Paralympic Legacy Unit in the delivery of the volunteering legacy from the games. The Join In programme was directly inspired by the London 2012 games. Join In has received £2.1 million for the delivery of the summer 2012 event and is receiving additional funding to deliver its proposition in 2013. In addition, the legacy initiatives also link to a number of existing projects with distinct budgets.
	Separately, as part of its remit to improve the delivery of major projects across central Government, the Major Projects Authority is also working to learn lessons from the preparation and staging of the games. Ownership of the ODA's and LOCOG's Learning Legacy website, which contains lessons from the successful London 2012 construction programme, has already transferred over to MPA:
	http://learninglegacy.independent.gov.uk/

Personal Income: Kingston upon Hull

Diana Johnson: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what the (a) mean and (b) median income has been for (i) men and (ii) women in Hull North in each of the last five years.

Nick Hurd: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply.
	Letter from Glen Watson, dated December 2012
	As Director General for the Office for National Statistics, I have been asked to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question.
	Estimates of average income are not available for the breakdowns requested, but estimates of average earnings are. The Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE), carried out in April each year, is the most comprehensive source of earnings information in the United Kingdom. Annual levels of earnings are estimated from ASHE, and are provided for employees on adult rates of pay, who have been in the same job for more than a year.
	The following table shows the median and mean gross annual earnings for all male and all female employees in the Kingston upon Hull North constituency each year from 2008 to 2012. The main reason for the large difference in all male and all female earnings in the area is that women work part time to a much greater extent than men.
	
		
			 Median and mean gross annual earnings (£)—for all male and all female employee jobs(1) in the parliamentary constituency of Kingston upon Hull North from 2008 to 2012 
			 Hull North 
			  Male Female 
			  Median Mean Median Mean 
			 2008 **27,714 *29,803 x **14,247 
			 2009 **34,160 *33,057 x **16,275 
			 2010 **29,537 *30,970 x *16,446 
			 2011(2) **28,643 *30,797 **12,087 *16,863 
			 2011(3) **30,235 *30,867 **11,989 *16,580 
			 2012 **32,157 *32,270 **12,492 **16,650 
		
	
	
		
			 (1 )Employees on adult rates who have been in the same job for more than one year. (2) 2011 results based on Standard Occupational Classification 2000. (3) 2011 results based on Standard Occupational Classification 2010. Guide to Quality: The Coefficient of Variation (CV) indicates the quality of a figure, the smaller the CV value the higher the quality. The true value is likely to lie within +/- twice the CV—for example, for an average of 200 with a CV of 5%, we would expect the population average to be within the range 180 to 220. Key: CV=5% * CV>5% and = 10% ** CV>10% and = 20% x = unreliable CV = Coefficient of Variation Source: Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE), Office for National Statistics.

WORK AND PENSIONS

Disability Living Allowance

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions whether his proposed cap on benefits will apply to a household comprising two parents on benefit plus an adult child in receipt of disability living allowance; and if he will make a statement.

Mark Hoban: When assessing whether the benefit cap will apply, the Department will apply certain exemptions according to the published rules. For the purposes of the benefit cap, a household or family unit refers to the benefit claimant, their partner (if they have one) and any child or qualifying young person for whom that adult or couple are treated as responsible when working out their housing benefit. It is possible, therefore, that in the example quoted, there may be more than one household unit for the purpose of assessing whether the cap will apply. Where there were two household units, the unit compromising parents receiving working age benefits could be capped. However, the second benefit unit, which compromises the DLA recipient, would not be subject to the cap.

Employment Schemes

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions whether any organisations offering mandatory work activity placements have withdrawn from the scheme following his announcement that recipients of employment and support allowance will now be referred to it.

Mark Hoban: Employment and support allowance claimants are not referred to mandatory work activity placements —it is exclusively for jobseeker's allowance claimants.

Housing and Council Tax Benefits

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the demographics are of people receiving housing and council tax benefit in the UK.

Steve Webb: Statistics on receipt of housing benefit and council tax benefit, including breakdown by age group and family type, are published on the Department's website and can be accessed at:
	http://research.dwp.gov.uk/asd/index.php?page=hbctb

Housing Benefit

Ian Austin: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions 
	(1)  pursuant to the statement by the Minister of State for Pensions of 6 December 2012, Official Report, columns 1030-2, on benefits up-rating 2013-14, when he plans to announce which areas will receive funding from the £140 million set aside for areas where rent increases are highest or there is a shortage of affordable housing;
	(2)  how he plans to allocate the £140 million set aside for areas where rent increases are highest or there is a shortage of affordable housing; and if he will make a statement;
	(3)  pursuant to the statement by the Minister of State for Pensions of 6 December 2012, Official Report, columns 1030-2, on benefits up-rating 2013-14, what (a) data and (b) criteria he will use to identify areas with a shortage of affordable housing to determine eligibility for support from the £140 million set aside for areas where rent increases are highest or there is a shortage of affordable housing;
	(4)  what (a) data and (b) criteria he will use to identify areas with the highest rent increases where the cap on local housing allowance uprating will not be applied.

Steve Webb: In 2014-15 and 2015-16, increases to local housing allowance rates will be capped at 1%, in line with increases in other benefits. We have set aside 30% of the forecast savings from this measure—£45 million in 2014-15 and £95 million in 2015-16—to target further help on people most affected.
	Our intention is that this funding will be used to increase the local housing allowance rates by more than 1% in areas where rent increases are causing a shortage of affordable accommodation.
	This funding will be available from 2014-15 and we will of course consider the available evidence, including evidence collected by the Rent Officer, to decide how it is targeted.
	Final details on the allocation of this funding will be made available in due course, to enable us to consider the latest evidence and to also give claimants and landlords time to plan.
	In 2013-14 local housing allowance rates will be uprated as planned, and are now published on the websites of Valuation Officer Agency, Rent Officers Wales and Rent Service Scotland.

Housing Benefit: Young People

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what progress he has made on defining who will be exempt from the restriction of housing benefit for people aged under 25 years; how data will be recorded and collected to facilitate any proposed exemptions; whether he has assessed whether young people currently accessing housing benefit would be put at risk of homelessness as a result of the proposed change; what methodology he has used for any such assessment; and if he will make a statement.

Steve Webb: Current Government policy does not include withdrawing housing support from people aged under 25.

Housing Benefit: Young People

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will make it his policy to collect data (a) for local authority areas and (b) nationally on the number of young people aged under 25 years claiming housing benefit (i) who have suffered abuse and domestic violence in the family home and escaped, (ii) who have been thrown out of the family home because they are gay, (iii) who have an alcoholic or drug dependent parent, (iv) who are orphans, (v) who are care leavers, (vi) who have never got on with a step-parent, (vii) whose parents are overseas, (viii) whose parents have moved to a different local authority area, (ix) who are living in a hostel, (x) who are living in a foyer, (xi) who are living in domestic violence refuges and (xii) whose parents do not have room for them; and if he will make a statement.

Steve Webb: I do not have any plans to change data collection for housing benefit purposes.

Occupational Pensions

Gregg McClymont: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what assessment he has made of the effect on low-paid women of excluding all those earning less than £9,250 from workplace pensions.

Steve Webb: We estimate that there are 11 million workers eligible for automatic enrolment into a workplace pension of whom 37% are women.
	Raising the value of the earnings threshold at which individuals become eligible for automatic enrolment from £8,105 to £9,205 would exclude around 340,000 individuals, of whom 260,000 are women.
	Anyone who is not automatically enrolled because of an increase in the earnings threshold will retain the right to opt in. If they earn above the lower limit of the qualifying earnings band, which currently stands at £5,564, they will also get an employer contribution. Employers are required to provide information about these opt-in rights to individuals.

Partnerships: Universal Credit

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions whether each partner in a business partnership whose household claims universal credit will be required to complete a self-certification form each month, including in it the total receipts and payments of the business for the previous calendar month.

Mark Hoban: Each individual, including those in business partnerships, who wants to claim universal credit and has self-employed earnings, will be required to report their individual earnings to the DWP on a monthly basis.
	In order to calculate a claimant's universal credit award accurately the DWP needs to know what someone is earning each month. Monthly reporting allows universal credit to be adjusted on a monthly basis, which will ensure that claimants whose income from self-employment falls do not have to wait several months for a rise in their universal credit.

Pay

Dominic Raab: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many employees in his Department were paid (a) between £80,000 and £100,000 per year and (b) in excess of £100,000 per year in each of the last five years.

Mark Hoban: The answer is in the table:
	
		
			 Year end £80,000-£100,000 Over £100,000 DWP headcount 
			 31 March 2008 59 48 113,384 
			 31 March 2009 70 48 106,537 
			 31 March 2010 86 56 120,069 
			 31 March 2011 72 50 109,445 
			 31 March 2012 62 40 99,958 
		
	
	The figures shown are the numbers of employees in the Department being paid at the relevant levels as at 31 March for each of the last five financial years. Figures do not include employees in arm’s length bodies. The senior civil service was subject to a pay freeze with effect from April 2010.

PAYE

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions on what date he expects to have an operational system integrating the state pension with the PAYE real time information system.

Steve Webb: DWP is looking at how the PAYE real time data can be used to support state pension and pensions credit claim processing as part of the universal credit changes for pension age customers due to be implemented after October 2014.
	In the longer term, as part of the Single Tier State Pension project we will be looking at how we can use the PAYE real time information for the processing of state pension. Plans are to introduce the new single tier in the next Parliament.

Pensions

Gregg McClymont: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how his Department collates and makes available frozen pensions data.

Steve Webb: The Department collates statistical data on all individuals receiving UK state pensions. The data are normally extracted quarterly from the Department's IT system for paying state pensions both in Great Britain and overseas.
	Statistical information is available by the following data characteristics of pension recipients: age; gender; country of residence; category and value of the pension in payment. The data do not separately identify those individuals with state pensions which are not uprated. Those countries where uprates are available are marked with an asterisk in the dataset.
	This statistical information can be accessed on the Department's website:
	http://www.dwp.gov.uk/research-and-statistics/

Social Security Benefits

Chris Skidmore: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people in each parliamentary constituency were in receipt of benefits for more than 10 years in each financial year since 1997-98.

Mark Hoban: This information is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.

Social Security Benefits

Tom Greatrex: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many employment and support allowance and incapacity benefit reassessments were audited through the quality assurance framework (a) in total and (b) as a proportion of the total number of assessments carried out in (i) 2010, (ii) 2011 and (iii) 2012 to date.

Mark Hoban: Following is a breakdown of the number of employment and support allowance (ESA) and incapacity benefit reassessment (IBR) decisions decided involving a medical assessment and also the number of quality assessment framework checks. These data come from DMACR (decision making and appeals data recorder) used by all decision makers within benefit centres dealing with ESA and IBR. The percentage figure is for illustration purposes only as the checks performed may not necessarily be on decisions in the same time period.
	For ESA decisions, for the period October 2011 to March 2012 (both dates inclusive) we completed 281,367 decisions and performed a total of 3,680 quality assessment framework (QAF) checks. This equates to a 1.31% check rate. For the period April 2012 to November 2012 (both dates inclusive) we completed 939,201 decisions and performed a total of 6,775 checks. This is a checking rate of 0.72%. As a total, for the period October 2011 to November 2012 we completed 1,220,568 decisions and performed 10,455 checks which is a checking rate of 0.86%.
	For IBR decisions, for the period October 2011 to March 2012 (both dates inclusive) we completed 268,439 decisions and performed a total of 1,943 checks, a rate of 0.72%. For the period April 2012 to November 2012 (both dates inclusive) we completed 744,496 decisions and performed 3,194 checks equating to a checking rate of 0.43%. As a total we completed 1,012,935 decisions and performed 5,137 checks, a rate of 0.51%.
	Decision data are only stored for 14 months so we cannot provide data from earlier than October 2011.

Social Security Benefits: Foreign Nationals

Brian Binley: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what proportion of benefit claimants are non-UK nationals who have not contributed through tax payments prior to receiving benefits, excluding asylum seekers whose cases have been upheld; and if he will make a statement.

Mark Hoban: The information is not readily available, and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Social Security Benefits: Kingston upon Hull

Diana Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many households in Kingston upon Hull North constituency are in receipt of one or more benefits provided to working age persons and have at least one working person.

Mark Hoban: This information is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.

Social Security Benefits: Kingston upon Hull

Diana Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many (a) people and (b) households in Kingston upon Hull North constituency receive one or more working age benefit; and how many (i) men and (ii) women in Kingston upon Hull North constituency receive each type of state benefit.

Mark Hoban: The total number of households within the Kingston upon Hull North parliamentary constituency claiming one or more working age benefit on 1 November 2011 is 11,120.
	Statistics on the number of people in Kingston upon Hull North constituency who receive one or more working age benefit; and how many (i) men and (ii) women in Kingston upon Hull North constituency receive each type of state benefit can be found in the client group for all ages at:
	http://83.244.183.180/100pc/stgp/tabtool_stgp.html
	Guidance for users can be found at:
	http://research.dwp.gov.uk/asd/asd1/tabtools/guidance.pdf
	The number of housing benefit recipients in Kingston upon Hull North constituency can be found at:
	http://83.244.183.193/hb_parlc/
	Statistics on the number of council tax benefit recipients in Kingston upon Hull North constituency is available via a one-off exercise that was carried out on the January 2011 data to provide a parliamentary constituency breakdown. Results can be found at:
	http://research.dwp.gov.uk/asd/asd1/hb_ctb/hb_ctb_parlc_jan11.xls
	Notes:
	1. Data are rounded to the nearest 10.
	2. This household level data use experimental data which are unpublished and do not form part of the regular official statistics outputs that are released by the Department in accordance with the UK Statistics Authority's Code of Practice so should be treated with caution.
	3. Figures comprise DWP working-age benefits on the working age client group: JSA, ESA, IB/SDA, IS, DLA, CA, BB, WB.
	4. November 2011 are the latest data available.
	5. A household is defined as a claimant, their partner and any children they are responsible for and who live with them.

Universal Credit

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions pursuant to the answer to the hon. Member for Erith and Thamesmead of 5 November 2012, Official Report, column 586W, on universal credit, what estimate he has made of the number of disabled people who will be entitled to universal credit and who would have been entitled to the severe disability premium under the current system (a) in Brighton and Hove and (b) nationally; and if he will make a statement.

Mark Hoban: Benefit case load forecasts by disability premiums are not readily available.
	The Department has previously published statistics of the number of households in receipt of the severe disability premium within income support, jobseeker's allowance and pension credit. This information is available here:
	http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201011/cmhansrd/cm110610/text/110610w0001.htm#11061051003983
	(b), but is not available at the level of detail requested in (a)

Universal Credit

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what proportion of the code required for the IT system for universal credit he expects to be re-used from his Department's existing systems.

Mark Hoban: We are unable to provide this level of detail due to cost and complexity of the work involved.

Universal Credit

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions whether any IT suppliers working on the universal credit programme have had their contracts terminated in the past three months; and if he will make a statement.

Mark Hoban: No IT supplier contracts have been terminated in the last three months.
	Universal credit continues to use its framework IT suppliers, namely Accenture, IBM, BT, and Hewlett Packard to deliver the IT solution.

Universal Credit

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions whether he plans to use (a) agile and (b) waterfall software development techniques in building the IT system for universal credit; and if he will make a statement.

Mark Hoban: The universal credit programme has to date used a mix of agile and waterfall software development where it has been appropriate to do so.
	As the IT delivery requires the development of new systems and re-use of some existing IT assets, the programme intends to continue to use methodologies which are fit for purpose.

Work Capability Assessment

Tom Harris: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many benefit claimants have undergone fitness for work assessments in the latest year for which figures are available; how many such claimants were assessed as fit for work; and how many such claimants appealed (a) successfully and (b) unsuccessfully against that judgment.

Mark Hoban: The Department regularly publishes official statistics on employment and support allowance (ESA) and the work capability assessment (WCA). The latest report was published in October 2012 and can be found at:
	http://research.dwp.gov.uk/asd/workingage/index.php?page=esa_wca
	On 6 November 2012 the Department for Work and Pensions published official statistics on the reassessment of incapacity benefits claimants for employment and support allowance (ESA). The report and its supplementary tables can be found at:
	http://statistics.dwp.gov.uk/asd/workingage/index.php?page=esa_ibr

Work Capability Assessment

Tom Greatrex: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what proportion of work capability assessment reassessments have taken place within (a) three months, (b) six months, (c) nine months, (d) 12 months, (e) 15 months, (f) 18 months and (g) more than 18 months of the claimant's previous work capability assessment.

Mark Hoban: The following table shows the duration between the date of decision by the Department’s decision maker at the initial work capability assessment (WCA) and the date of decision by the Department’s decision maker at the second WCA. The table shows all claims with repeat decisions taken on them up to May 2012 (the latest data available).
	
		
			 Duration between decision maker decision at initial WCA and decision maker decision at first repeat WCA 
			  Percentage 
			 Up to 3 months 1 
			 Up to 6 months 10 
			 Up to 9 months 28 
			 Up to 12 months 18 
			 Up to 15 months 20 
			 Up to 18 months 11 
			 Over 18 months 13 
			 Source: The data presented above come from benefit claims data held by the Department for Work and Pensions.

Work Programme

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what steps he proposes to take to increase the level of job outcomes for new employment and support allowance claimants referred to the Work programme; and if he will make a statement.

Mark Hoban: It is too soon to judge performance on job outcomes alone—we have just over one year's data for a programme that is designed to support people for two years or more.
	The Department will continue to work with providers to improve performance across all payment groups, including the specific group for ESA claimants. We are taking decisive action with those who are not delivering the Work programme to the standards we expect.
	We are also working with the Confederation of British Industry and ERSA to encourage more businesses to recruit people who are work ready.

Work Programme

Stephen Hepburn: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people in (a) Jarrow constituency, (b) South Tyneside, (c) the north-east and (d) the UK who have been referred to the Work programme have found part-time employment.

Mark Hoban: Official Work programme statistics count sustained job outcomes only, i.e. when participants have been in work for 13 or 26 weeks. Statistics on all Work programme participants who have found part-time employment and full-time employment are therefore not available.

BUSINESS, INNOVATION AND SKILLS

Anti-Semitism

David Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what recent meetings have been held of the higher education sub-group of the cross-Government working group on anti-Semitism; which officials at each civil service grade attended each such meeting; what matters were discussed at each such meeting; what further meetings are planned; and if he will make a statement. [R]

David Willetts: The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) Anti-Semitism and Higher Education Group last met in November 2009. At this meeting a ministerial private secretary, the director for higher education policy and a policy official (higher executive officer) were present.
	The meeting included updates from members of the group on their wider work on equality and diversity, including tackling anti-Semitism, and on the guidance for students, ‘A Student's Guide to Anti-Semitism on Campus’, produced by the Union of Jewish Students and the Community Security Trust.
	The work of the group has resulted in agreement to a number of practical actions which have been taken forward by HE stakeholders and the Jewish community. For instance a project on examining religion and belief in higher education and the experiences of students and staff, further practical guidance on academic freedom and hate speech from Universities UK to the sector, and guidance on external speakers from the National Union of Students tailored to the needs of student unions. The NUS also continues to offer training to student unions on tackling hate speech, funded by BIS. The Equality Challenge Unit is also developing additional practical guidance for institutions on promoting tolerance on campus and dealing with external speakers.
	In light of this activity, and as significant work has been under way in the sector on tackling intolerance in HE, the Government agreed with the Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group Against Anti-Semitism that BIS would suspend the BIS Anti-Semitism and HE Group unless and until significant new problems of anti-Semitism presented themselves. BIS continues to be a committed member of the wider cross-Government working group on anti-Semitism.

Apprentices: Southend on Sea

David Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills how many apprenticeship places in Southend West constituency there were in (a) 2010, (b) 2011 and (c) 2012 to date.

Matthew Hancock: Table 1 shows the number of apprenticeship programme starts in (a) Southend West parliamentary constituency, (b) Southend on Sea and Essex local education authorities by level. Final data are shown for the 2009/10 and 2010/11 academic years and provisional data are shown for the 2011/12 academic year.
	We publish apprenticeship starts at region, local education authority and parliamentary constituency levels of geography, therefore data for Southend borough council are not presented.
	Provisional data for the 2011/12 academic year provide an early view of performance and will change as further data returns are received from further education colleges and providers. They should not be directly compared with final year data from previous years. Figures for 2011/12 will be finalised in January 2013.
	
		
			 Table 1: Apprenticeship programme starts by geography, 2009/10 to 2011/12 (provisional) 
			   Final Provisional 
			  Level 2009/10 2010/11 2011/12 
			 Southend West Constituency Intermediate 240 360 390 
			  Advanced 60 160 190 
			  Higher — — — 
			  Total 300 520 580 
			      
			 Southend on Sea Local Education Authority Intermediate 500 780 790 
			  Advanced 140 380 370 
			  Higher — — — 
			  Total 640 1,150 1,170 
			      
			 Essex Local Education Authority Intermediate 4,770 7,560 7,510 
			  Advanced 1,620 3,350 4,020 
			  Higher 20 20 70 
			  Total 6,410 10,930 11,590 
			 Notes: 1. All figures are rounded to the nearest 10. 2. Geographic breakdowns are based upon the home postcode of the learner. 3. Figures are based on the geographic boundaries as of May 2010. 4. Provisional data for 2011/12 should not be directly compared with data for earlier years. Source: Individualised Learner Record 
		
	
	Apprenticeships are demand led and rely on employers to offer suitable job opportunities. It is therefore difficult to predict the number of apprenticeship places for the next five years.
	Information on the number of apprenticeship starts by geography is published in a supplementary table to a quarterly Statistical First Release (SFR). The latest SFR was published on 11 October 2012:
	http://www.thedataservice.org.uk/statistics/statisticalfirstrelease/sfr_current
	http://www.thedataservice.org.uk/statistics/statisticalfirstrelease/sfr_supplementary_tables/Apprenticeship_sfr_supplementary_tables/

Business: Research

Steve Rotheram: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what steps he is taking to encourage research and development in businesses in (a) Liverpool, Walton constituency, (b) Liverpool and (c) England.

David Willetts: holding answer 10 December 2012
	The Government are encouraging research and development in businesses across the UK.
	The Technology Strategy Board is the Government's prime channel for supporting business-led technology innovation. It delivers a range of programmes in support of businesses undertaking research and development including Collaborative R and D, Smart and Knowledge Transfer Partnerships. Businesses supported range from pre start-up, start-up and early stage micro businesses, to large multinationals.
	The Technology Strategy Board also provides opportunities for innovative businesses through the growing network of Catapult centres.
	Since 2010 the Technology Strategy Board has provided £893.5 million in support for businesses across the UK, including £13 million awarded to businesses in Liverpool. Unfortunately this information is not held at parliamentary constituency level.
	The Government also provide R and D tax credits to encourage business investment in R and D directed towards achieving an advance in science or technology. Since R and D tax credit schemes were launched in 2000-01, more than 74,000 claims have been made and over £7 billion of relief has been claimed.

Comet Group

Toby Perkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills if his Department will take steps to help Comet secure a sustainable buyer; and if he will make a statement.

Jo Swinson: We are monitoring the Comet situation closely and with interest. The administrator continues to seek a buyer for the stores and for its online operation.

Commonwealth Games: India

Priti Patel: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills 
	(1)  what recent communications his Department has had with (a) Prasar Bharati, the Indian state broadcaster, (b) the Indian Department of Information and Broadcasting and (c) the Commonwealth Games Federation, regarding payment of the UK company SIS, which broadcast the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi;
	(2)  what communication his Department has had with the Indian Government, regarding payment of the UK company SIS, which broadcast the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi;
	(3)  what representations his Department plans to make regarding payment of the UK company SIS, which broadcast the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi;
	(4)  what steps his Department is taking to resolve the issue of UK companies who have not been paid for their work on broadcasting the Commonwealth Games in Delhi in 2010; and if he will make a statement.

Michael Fallon: BIS officials have raised this issue regularly with the Indian authorities, including at ministerial level, and also with other countries whose companies have also been affected; at ministerial level, it was raised most recently during the visit to the UK by the Indian Commerce Minister in April 2012.
	There have been regular discussions with both Prasar Bharati and the Department of Information and Broadcasting who have indicated that a final decision on this issue will not be made until investigations by the Indian Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) are complete. They will consider what further action to take after judicial review of the CBI's report has been completed, which it is hoped will be soon.
	Decisions on outstanding payments will only be made after judicial proceedings concerning allegations of corruption are completed. Officials at the British high commission in Delhi will continue to raise the issue when such interventions are judged to be most effective, in close consultation with the companies affected.

Company Liquidations

Robert Halfon: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills if he will initiate a review of the law governing the liquidation of private companies with complex financial arrangements and structures using as a test-case the situation of Comet Ltd; and if he will make a statement.

Jo Swinson: holding answer 10 December 2012
	We are monitoring the Comet situation closely with interest. It is too early yet to determine if this case highlights serious issues with our insolvency regime. If such issues emerge we will then consider whether any review is needed.

Debts: Advisory Services

David Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what recent progress the Office of Fair Trading has made in its joint work with the Debt Managers Standards Association on standards in the debt management industry.

Jo Swinson: The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) treats commercial debt management as a high risk area because of the risk of harm to potentially vulnerable consumers facing difficulty in dealing with their debts. As a consequence all new entrants to the market are subject to regulatory on-site inspections by the OFT or local trading standards service as part of the process for considering their consumer credit applications.
	Earlier this year, OFT published revised guidance on debt management, which sets out the standards it expects from businesses offering these services. This followed OFT's compliance review of the sector in 2010, which identified widespread concerns, including problems with advertising and marketing practices and the quality of advice given.
	Since the review, over 100 businesses have exited the debt management sector, for example following the OFT taking licence-refusal or revocation action, surrendering their licences, or withdrawing their licence-renewal applications after being questioned about their business by the OFT.
	The OFT continues to work with the Debt Managers Standards Association to improve standards across the sector, including having regular meetings. The most recent meeting was held at the OFT on 7 December 2012.

Estate Agents

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills whether his Department has investigated reports of estate agents establishing subsidiary companies with the objective of purchasing properties from clients without the vendor's knowledge.

Jo Swinson: holding answer 27 November 2012
	The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills has not investigated this practice. The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) is responsible for enforcement of the Estate Agents Act 1979, and shares powers under the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 (CPRs) and the Business Protection from Misleading Marketing Regulations 2008 (BPRs) with local authority Trading Standards Services, all of which legislation may be relevant to such practices. The OFT has particular concerns over agents failing to declare a personal interest in purchases, as set out in its February 2010 market study into home buying and selling, given the detriment to both vendors and potential purchasers involved.
	Any evidence of such practices occurring should be referred to the OFT or to Trading Standards.

Higher Education: Finance

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills how much funding the Higher Education Funding Council allocated for (a) widening participation in higher education, (b) the costs of being based in London, (c) the teaching of foreign languages and (d) capital investment in (i) 2010-11, (ii) 2011-12 and (iii) 2012-13; and if he will make a statement.

David Willetts: The Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) have confirmed their funding allocations provided in the following tables, in the years 2010-11, 2011-12 and 2012-13 for the four categories requested.
	
		
			 (a) Widening participation in higher education funding 
			 £ million 
			  AY 2010/11 AY 2011/12 AY 2012/13 
			 Recurrent funding    
			 Widening participation funding 143.5 141.6 140.6 
			 Improving retention funding 229.2 226.5 225.0 
			     
			 Widening participation special funding    
			 Aimhigher funding (inc. summer schools) 30.5 — — 
			 Lifelong Learning Networks funding (inc additional student numbers) 3.2 — — 
			 Other special programmes (e.g. Supporting Professionalism in Admissions (SPA); retention programme with Paul Hamlyn; disability projects) 0.7 0.6 0.6 
		
	
	
		
			 (b) The costs of being based in London 
			 £ million 
			  AY 2010/11 AY 2011/12 AY 2012/13 
			 Recurrent research funding (London extra costs and elements of QR charity support funding and RDP supervision funding) 44.5 44.4 44.9 
			 Recurrent teaching funding 76.4 72,2 73.1 
			 Source: Final sector grant tables for 2010-11 (October) 2011-12 (October) and 2012-13 (July) for teaching funding (excluding widening participation/improving retention) 
		
	
	
		
			 (c) The costs of teaching foreign languages 
			 £ million 
			  AY 2010/11 AY 2011/12 AY 2012/13 
			 Modern Foreign Languages (MFL) notional teaching funding A little under 100 A little under 100 65.0 
			 ERASMUS fee compensation 9.3 10.1 10.7 
			 Routes into Languages 0.5 1.4 1.0 
			     
			 Language-based Area Studies 2.3 1.1 0.2 
			 Notes: 1. Teaching funding is only notional as HEFCE do not calculate funding at this level. The bulk of this is allocated through its mainstream teaching grant method, but there will also be small sums associated with modern language students in other allocations such as for part-time undergraduates, intensive courses (mainly PGT) and widening participation. 2. Most of the Erasmus fee compensation will relate to students studying a modern foreign language, but this is not necessarily true in all cases. 3. Routes into Languages and LBAS are provided to support MFL, rather than the ‘teaching of MFL’. 4. Generally HEFCE funds on an academic year basis and allocations are shown by AY unless the BIS allocation ties it to a financial year. 
		
	
	
		
			 (d) Capital funding to English HEIs 
			 Financial Year £ million 
			 2010-11 455.0 
			 2011-12 243.2 
			 2012-13 182.1 
		
	
	The Government's funding reforms mean that from academic year 2012/13 less funding for teaching flows through HEFCE grant and more through higher fees backed by Government supported loans. These reforms mean that in practice more funding may be available for widening participation and fair access and for the teaching of subjects like modern foreign languages.
	The new funding arrangements will see significant new spending on widening access to higher education made by Government, the Council and institutions. There are three main elements to the available funding. Government funding for the National Scholarship Programme will reach £150 million a year in 2014/15; higher education institutions have estimated they will spend £672 million on access through their access agreements by 2016/17; this is in addition to the figures shown above for HEFCE grant funding; HEFCE has allocated £140 million in 2012/13 in the widening participation part of the teaching grant, plus the wider teaching enhancement and student success allocation for improving retention of students of £225 million.
	Modern foreign languages fall into the HEFCE price group C. The notional basic rate of teaching funding for full-time undergraduates undertaking subjects in that price group is forecast to rise from £6,801 in 2011-12 to up to £9,000 in 2012-13.

ICT: Expenditure

Andrew Gwynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills how much has been spent on (a) strategy and planning, (b) design and build, (c) hosting and infrastructure, (d) content provision and (e) testing and evaluation for his Department's websites in each of the last two years; and how much has been allocated for each such category of expenditure in 2012-13.

Jo Swinson: In 2010-11 the Department spent the following amounts on its website:
	
		
			  £ 
			 Strategy and planning 85,374 
			 Design and build 94,089 
			 Hosting and infrastructure 180,392 
			 Content provision 529 
			 Testing and evaluation 12,123 
			 Total costs for 2010-11 372,506 
		
	
	In 2011-12 the Department spent the following amounts on its website:
	
		
			  £ 
			 Strategy and planning 102,357.30 
			 Design and build 127,769.08 
			 Hosting and infrastructure 290,509.57 
			 Content provision 11,237.75 
			 Testing and evaluation 22,714.03 
			 Total costs for 2010-11 554,588 
		
	
	In 2012-13 the Department has allocated a total budget of £197,000 for strategy and planning, design and build, and hosting and infrastructure. No specific budget has been allocated for content provision or testing and evaluation.

Manufacturing Industries

David Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what recent steps he has taken to support British manufacturing industry; what recent discussions (a) he, (b) Ministers in his Department and (c) officials in his Department have had with the Confederation of British Industry on this matter; and if he will make a statement.

Michael Fallon: This Government have made a commitment to manufacturing which we see as an essential building block of a more resilient, innovative economy. The Government work closely with manufacturers and their supply chains, and are taking steps to strengthen and grow modern manufacturing in the UK by encouraging innovation, business investment, technology commercialisation, skills and exports. There is a focus on advanced manufacturing in the Government's industrial strategy announced on 11 September.
	In his autumn statement on 5 December 2012, Official Report, columns 871-82, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, my right hon. Friend the Member for Tatton (Mr Osborne), announced a number of measures which will benefit manufacturing. These include a significant temporary increase in the Annual Investment Allowance, from £25,000 to £250,000 for two years from 1 January 2013; £120 million for two further rounds of the Advanced Manufacturing Supply Chain Initiative; an additional £350 million for the Regional Growth Fund; and increased funding of £140 million to help UKTI deliver an ambitious package of support to get SMEs exporting and attract more, high-value investment into the UK.
	The Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, the right hon. Member for Twickenham (Vince Cable), meets with the director general of the CBI every six to eight weeks to discuss current and forthcoming policy issues, including matters of importance to the manufacturing sector. Both the Prime Minister and the Secretary of State spoke at the CBI annual conference on 19 November. I myself met with CBI on 24 October and discussed a range of topics including support for mid-sized businesses, access to finance, and green growth, all of which would impact on the manufacturing sector. In addition, officials from the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills communicate regularly with their counterparts in the CBI on matters of mutual interest.

Manufacturing Industries

Iain Wright: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills if he will assess the implications for his policies of the findings of the survey by EEF and BDO of UK manufacturing, published on 3 December 2012 on (a) output and orders balances, (b) exports orders, (c) confidence levels within the manufacturing sector, (d) investment intentions, (e) future recruitment plans within manufacturing and (f) forecast growth in manufacturing output; if he will take steps to address the report's findings; and if he will make a statement.

Michael Fallon: The EEF in partnership with BDO produces a quarterly snapshot of trends in UK manufacturing. Its most recent report published on 3 December 2012 highlights the challenging business conditions caused by the eurozone crisis and slowing growth in emerging markets. However, the report also shows a positive balance of manufacturing companies planning to make new investments over the next year, as well as a rise in manufacturing employment in the first half of the year. BIS Ministers and officials communicate regularly with the EEF on a wide range of issues related to growing the manufacturing sector in the UK.
	The EEF welcomed announcements in the autumn statement aimed at supporting export and investment-led growth. The Chancellor of the Exchequer, my right hon. Friend the Member for Tatton (Mr Osborne), announced a number of measures on 5 December 2012, Official Report, columns 871-82, that will benefit UK manufacturing, including a significant temporary increase in the Annual Investment Allowance, from £25,000 to £250,000 for two years from 1 January 2013; £120 million for two further rounds of the Advanced Manufacturing Supply Chain Initiative; an additional £350 million for the Regional Growth Fund; and increased funding of £140 million to help UKTI deliver an ambitious package of support to get SMEs exporting and attract more, high-value investment into the UK. There will also be an increase in the budget available for the Employer Ownership Pilot, from £250 million to £340 million overall to help businesses design and develop their own training programmes.
	Furthermore, investment in the entire manufacturing skills pipeline is a major priority for the Government—from early education through to further and higher education.
	We have a substantial programme of work in place to help young people to understand how studying the STEM disciplines at all levels leads to future career opportunities. The "See Inside Manufacturing" campaign has been a successful way of opening young people's eyes to the career opportunities available in engineering by showing them around some of the UK's leading industrial companies. We are also improving technical education at a young age by setting up a new generation of university technical colleges, with 33 so far having been announced. Finally, the Government's package of support for apprenticeships has resulted in almost 50,000 apprenticeship starts in manufacturing and engineering in 2010/11—up by nearly 30% on 2009/10.

Official Hospitality

Andrew Gwynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills how much his Department has spent for hospitality purposes on (a) Champagne, (b) wines, (c) spirits, (d) soft drinks, (e) flowers, (f) laundry, (g) porterage, (h) china, (i) cutlery and (j) venue hire since May 2010.

Jo Swinson: The information is not held centrally and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
	Laundry, porterage, china and cutlery are supplied by Baxter Storey as part of a commercial contract to provide catering and hospitality services to BIS.

Overseas Students: Syria

Bob Russell: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what assistance he has made available to universities to enable students from Syria to continue their studies; and if he will make a statement.

David Willetts: The Department is working closely with its partners including Universities UK (UUK) to identify ways to enable students from Syria to continue their studies in the UK.
	The British Council has set up a hardship fund for Syrian students to provide financial assistance for people with Syria Higher Education Capacity Building Project scholarships to continue with their studies in the UK.
	The Higher Education International Unit at Universities UK and some UK universities have also joined a consortium of higher education institutions, led by the Institute of International Education, to provide scholarships for Syrian students and serve as host campuses for professors and senior scholars.
	The Department has also consulted HM Treasury (HMT) about the difficulty some Syrian students are facing in receiving payment from the Syrian banks through the Syrian embassy for educational purposes. HMT has issued licences to the banks concerned to allow them to deal with funds that are subject to an EU asset freeze under Council Regulation (EU) No. 36/2012 and transfer this into the student's personal account. Since the Syrian embassy is now closed, students have to send an application to HMT for the licence to be issued for the transfer of funds into their personal account. HMT has confirmed that most recent applicants have used their personal accounts.
	There is no scope in the existing student support legislation for the Government to provide support for Syrian students in the UK who are no longer receiving their funding from the Syrian Government. We recommend that universities and scholarship awarding bodies use their own discretion over fees, and their welfare and hardship funds, to help support these students if possible. The Department is working closely with the Higher Education International Unit to monitor the situation.

Pay

Andrew Gwynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills how much was paid in (a) year end and (b) in-year bonuses to officials in his Department in each of the last two years.

Jo Swinson: Details of awards in the last two years for which information is available are detailed in the following table.
	
		
			  2010-11 2011-12 
			 Total number of staff 3,404 2,898 
			 Number of performance related payments 950 1,156 
			 Total amount paid (£) 1,126,780 1,588,649 
			 Number of in-year rewards 28 110 
			 Total amount paid (£) 13,750 26,290 
		
	
	An element of the BIS overall pay award for staff below the senior civil service (SCS) is allocated to non-consolidated, non-pensionable pay related to performance. There are two types of award:
	1. In-year awards that recognised strong performance in particularly demanding tasks or situations. In-year awards were suspended from 2010-11 and re-instated in November 2011;
	2. Annual performance awards that reward staff based on their annual performance rating.
	These non-consolidated, non pensionable pay awards, are used to drive high performance and have to be earned each year against pre-determined targets and do not add to future pay bills. The payments made for both types of award are entirely related to staff performance.
	Performance awards for the SCS are part of the pay system across the whole senior civil service, and are used to reward high performance sustained throughout the year, based on judgements and about how well an individual has performed relative to their peers. The performance-related pay scheme is designed to help drive high performance and support better public service delivery. Performance awards are non-consolidated and non-pensionable and do not add to future pay bill costs. The percentage of the pay bill set aside for performance- related awards for the SCS is based on recommendations from the independent Senior Salaries Review Body. In- year awards are not paid to senior civil servants.

Post Offices: Essex

David Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills how many (a) post office branches within supermarkets and (b) stand-alone post office branches are located in (i) Southend and (ii) Essex; and if he will make a statement.

Jo Swinson: The information requested is an operational matter for Post Office Ltd. I have therefore asked Paula Vennells, the chief executive officer of Post Office Ltd, to respond directly to the hon. Member and a copy of her reply will be placed in the Libraries of the House.
	The hon. Member will be interested to note that the Government require Post Office Ltd to meet the strict access criteria that see, for example, 90% of the national population live within one mile of a post office branch, and to maintain a network of at least 11,500 post office branches. The number of retail outlets of the four largest supermarkets combined totals around 5,000, and neither singly nor collectively do they have a property portfolio able to meet the access criteria. Post Office Ltd's network will continue to consist of a wide range of independent, symbol group operators and multiple retailers who are best placed to provide access to post office services in a particular community.

Public Appointments

Michael Weir: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills 
	(1)  which recruitment consultants his Department used to select candidates for public appointments within his departmental remit in each year for which figures are available since 2007; and how much was paid in fees to each such company in each year since 2007;
	(2)  how many public appointments (a) regulated by the Office of the Commissioner for Public Appointments and (b) not regulated by the Office of the Commissioner for Public Appointments have been made by his Department since 2007; and in how many such cases the services of recruitment consultants were retained.

Jo Swinson: Unfortunately, due to the amount of information involved across a number of years these questions cannot be answered without incurring disproportionate cost.

Public Appointments

Michael Weir: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills when his Department last assessed (a) the utility and (b) the value of psychometric testing in its recruitment and selection of candidates for public appointments on advisory boards.

Jo Swinson: The Department has not assessed the utility and value of psychometric testing in its recruitment and selection of candidates for public appointments.
	The Department does not, as a matter of course, use psychometric testing in its public appointments processes.

Public Appointments

Michael Weir: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what his Department's policy is on the payment of travel expenses to candidates in respect of their attendance at assessment centres and interviews when pursuing applications for selection to a public appointment.

Jo Swinson: BIS policy is for reasonable expenses incurred, within the UK, travelling to and from interview, to be reimbursed. This policy is detailed in the information pack available to candidates.
	BIS does not use assessment centres in public appointment processes but if our partner organisations wished to the above policy would apply.

Regional Growth Fund: Newton Abbot

Anne-Marie Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills how many applications from Newton Abbot constituency were received for funding from the Regional Growth Fund in the latest period for which figures are available.

Michael Fallon: We do not disclose data at the scale of parliamentary constituency.
	1370 applications were received for the three bidding rounds of the Regional Growth Fund: of these, 139 were for projects or programmes located within the south-west. However, bids can be tendered by businesses located in different areas to the location of the activity and by consortia of multiple private and public organisations. We do not hold complete location information on all parties involved in a bid.
	While the impact of successful Regional Growth Fund projects is rarely limited to one constituency, two applications that described some or all of their activity in the Newton Abbot area were received. However, there were several applications that predicted that they would have employment impacts on the Newton Abbot constituency. There are several programme bids, for example submitted by Local Enterprise Partnerships, that could potentially generate activity in Newton Abbot.

Science: Finance

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills how much funding has been provided by his Department to the (a) Royal Society, (b) British Academy, (c) Royal Academy of Engineering, (d) Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics Network, (e) British Science Association, (f) Engineering UK and (g) UK Resource Centre for Women in Science, Engineering and Technology in 2012-13 to date; and if he will make a statement.

Jo Swinson: holding answer 11 December 2012
	The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills has made payments to the organisations listed during 2012-13 (1 April to 30 November) as follows:
	
		
			   £ 
			 (a) The Royal Society 22,454,957 
			 (b) The British Academy 16,195,234 
			 (c) Royal Academy of Engineering, RAE 5,381,312 
		
	
	
		
			 (d) STEMNET (The Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics Network) 3,423,664 
			 (e) British Science Association (The British Association for the Advancement of Science) 971,419 
			 (f) Engineering UK Nil 
			 (g) UK Resource Centre for Women in Science, Engineering and Technology Nil

Science: Finance

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills how the £600 million announced in the autumn statement 2012 for science infrastructure will be apportioned between research councils and other stakeholders.

David Willetts: The £600 million for science infrastructure announced in the autumn statement 2012 is indicatively and approximately apportioned as follows:
	Research Councils: £480 million;
	Other stakeholders: £120 million.
	Further detail will be provided shortly.

Science: Finance

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what funding he plans to allocate to science capital expenditure in each year from 2012-13.

David Willetts: BIS science capital funding allocation for 2012-13 is £613 million.
	Indicative and approximate allocations for future years are:
	2013-14: £880 million; and
	2014-15: £1,040 million.

Sickness Absence

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills pursuant to the answer of 9 November 2012, Official Report, column 781-2W, on sick leave, what assessment he has made of the difference in the proportion of working days lost due to ill health between officers at AA grade and at SCS grade; and what assessment he has made of the use of mindfulness-based therapies in reducing the proportion of working days lost in his Department.

Jo Swinson: Although the figure for average working days lost for individuals at AA grade appears to be very high in some of the Department's more recently published sickness absence statistics, BIS only employs a very small number of people at this grade. For example, during the rolling period between April 2011 and March 2012 we had 23 members of staff at AA grade, representing approximately 0.7% of our total headcount. One or two cases of long-term sick leave amongst these employees would therefore distort the average working days lost figure significantly. In contrast, the average working days lost for administrative assistant (AA) employees during the rolling period between April 2010 and March 2011 was not significantly higher than that of senior civil servant (SCS) employees.
	BIS refers employees with health issues to an independent medical adviser (MA) who is an occupational health expert for advice on how best to support and facilitate their return to work. The actions and support available are relative to the individual circumstances of the case.

Students: Finance

Tom Blenkinsop: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills how many English students have yet to receive a student finance payment for this academic year; and how many students had yet to receive a student finance payment on that date in each of the last five academic years.

David Willetts: Following the start of term, for the majority of university courses, official student finance statistics are published on the 14 October each year. The following table provides a breakdown of payments for each academic year since 2010 made to students domiciled in England entitled to maintenance support. Comparable figures prior to 2010 are not available. For 2012 up-to-date information as of 5 December is also provided.
	The Student Loans Company (SLC) is unable to process and prepare applications for payment without the required evidence and sends reminders requesting missing evidence from students and their sponsors. For students who apply near the start of term, or for those who have not yet supplied the required evidence of household income, SLC will do everything it can to ensure they get at least the basic non means-tested maintenance loan and tuition fee loan so that they can start their course, and will pay any additional amounts due as soon as possible after the start of term.
	
		
			 Student finance payments made to Student Finance England applicants 
			 Thousand 
			 Description AY 2010/11 on 14 October 2010 AY 2011/12 on 14 October 2011 AY 2012/13 on 14 October 2012 AY 2012/13 on 5 December 2012 
			 Applications prepared for payment with a maintenance element: 826 865 860 942 
			 Of which first payment made to those studying away from the institution (medical course, placement etc) 32 16 17 19 
			 Of which attendance confirmed and first payment made 728 798 778 890 
			 Of which attendance confirmed and first payment will be made at term start date or is currently in the banking system 10 13 20 5 
			 Of which awaiting confirmation of attendance from the institution 44 36 41 27 
			 Of which attendance confirmed but first payment withheld(1) 12 2 2 1 
			 (1) Payments are withheld in exceptional cases, for example where the bank details provided by the applicant have been found to be invalid or where the NINO has not yet been validated.

Sunday Trading

David Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what recent discussions he has had with (a) faith groups, (b) business leaders and (c) others on Sunday trading; and if he will make a statement.

Jo Swinson: The Government have consistently stated that the relaxation of Sunday trading regulations during the Olympic period was a temporary measure and that there are no plans permanently to relax these restrictions.
	The Government occasionally receive representations from businesses, faith groups and others on this issue but have not initiated any discussions. If any changes to the current regulations were envisaged, a full public consultation would be carried out.